Chronic
by hollow echos
Summary: the teen titans gain a new member with a shady past. these are the accounts of his trials through his own eyes. please read and review. first TT fan-fic
1. Default Chapter

I walked towards the door quickly, wanting to get out of the bank as quickly as possible. It wasn't the bank that made me wary, but the people. I never was one to particular like people, perhaps it was my upbringing. Either way, I tried to have as little human interaction as possible. I find it makes things a lot easier.

I reached for the glass door, slowly pushing it open as I heard a familiar rumble behind me.

_A deep thunder shook from behind; an explosion rocked the earth, fire billowing towards me. Distorted faces, smoke, running people, panicking people. People dying, arms outstretched, flames washing over their bodies, the flesh ripped from their bones as their bodies were charred beyond recondition. _

I was jerked back to the present as my body automatically dropped to the ground, hands covering my head and neck as I scrunched myself into a ball. I tried to yell out, but it was too late. A burst of flames, a cloud of smoke, and a crack of an explosion as people, desks, and building materials went flying in all directions. My eyes opened wide with horror as the flames raced outwards, as if in slow motion. I shuffled across the ground to a desk that had been overturned in the tumult. I cowered behind it as the flames washed over the area that I had just occupied. The desk in front of me was reduced to dust and ash as the flames finally met flesh.

I screamed out in pain as I felt the familiar ridges breaking through my skin along my spine, and the spikes protruding from the bone right below the elbow. As the flames finally slowed, I hopped to my feet, surveying the damage. The clothes had been ripped from my body, leaving my suit exposed. It had absorbed the brunt of the attack, but I could feel the burns on my hands and neck where the suit did not cover. I looked around through hazy smoke filled air.

About to assist the injured people that lay strewn about, something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. A lone figure, shrouded in black exited the vault that had been blown open, carrying two large bags. I didn't even have to think about what was in them, it was obvious at that point.

I shook my head. I had come to this city to escape the whole hero thing. I just wanted to be left alone. Apparently trouble hadn't taken its time in catching up to me. I rose to my feet from where I was crouched, and slowly snuck over to where the robber was casually striding towards the exit.

I eyed the automatic weapon hanging from his belt, and then at the crying and screaming figures lying all around. I knew that no matter what was personally was best for me; I had to do what was best for these people. Such thoughts came to me immediately, putting the well being of others before myself had been drilled into my head since the beginning of my training six long years ago.

I pushed off of the pillar I had been hiding behind, entered hyper-mode, and raced up behind the villain. Before he knew what was happening, I had driven the backside of my spike into his back. I had been taught to use the flat side when I meant to disable, not kill. The sharp points of my spikes were more than enough to kill an enemy. They were strong enough to go through half and inch of steel. He went spinning across the room, both bags of money flying in opposite directions. I walked over towards him, stepping over rubble in the process.

He rose to his feet with a start, rubbing his head as he pulled the weapon from his belt. He looked around the room, racing over to the nearest person, and dragging them to his feet.

"You come any closer, and I will kill this woman."

I shook my head in humor as I closed my eyes for a moment, gathering the energy I needed for another burst of speed I needed as I raced up behind him, grabbed the woman, and safely deposited her on the other side of the room, leaving the villain looking at me in amazement. I had a fairly good suspicion that he hadn't expected anyone quite like me.

I walked towards him once again. He backed up, tripping over a discarded chair as he fell backwards. He looked at me with wide eyes, and then over at two people huddled on the ground, shaking and crying. He turned his weapon in their direction. At that point he knew he wasn't going to get a shot off at me, but they were a different story. He flipped the safety on his weapon as he took aim. My eyes opened wide with horror as he pulled the trigger.

I knew I didn't have time to get the two women out of the way, so I did the only thing I could at the time. I entered hyper-mode, diving in front of them as the bullets ricocheted past my body. I felt the searing heat as they barely missed my flesh. I winced as one grazed my chest. I felt the sticky blood begin to trickle from the long graze mark. My attention was distracted as a wildfire of pain erupted in my shoulder. Looking down, I saw where a bullet had ripped through my suit and was now lodged into my shoulder.

Definitely still there, I could feel it lodged in my muscles. I looked first at the smirking villain, and then back at the two people behind me. "G-Get out of here!" I managed to stutter as I picked myself up, pushing the pain to the back of my mind.

Before I knew what I was doing, I was on my feet, racing towards the robber at full speed. I had to stop myself from driving the sharp tips of my spikes through his body. Automatic reactions that had been programmed into my making had to be discouraged as I turned the spike at the last moment, again hitting him with the blunt side of my two weapons. This time, my full strength behind the blows he went flying backwards, knocking a good chunk out of the cement pillar his body struck.

I watched with satisfaction as he slumped to the ground, moaning, and then motionless. I didn't need to go over to check if he was unconscious. That was a given at this point. I took a moment to glance down at my injuries. My shoulder throbbed, my suit had failed to fix the tear, and fresh blood flowed freely through the hole and down the side of my uniform. I then looked down at the gash in my side that was a little better, but still hurt like hell. Fingering the wound in my shoulder, it came away soaked in red.

I ignored the pain, there were more important things to worry about, such as the other people scattered around me. I walked over to the two women that I had dived in front of first. They cowered before me as I looked down at them with tired eyes. Why for once couldn't I have worried about my self first? I shrugged as I lowered my good hand down to help them one of them up. They looked at it with wide eyes; it was still coated with blood. Rolling my eyes I wiped it off on my uniform as I lowered it once again. This time the younger of the two, probably in her twenties took it willingly.

I dragged her to her feet and then motioned for her to go towards the door. Looking down at the second lady, I knew there was no way she was going to be able to stand. Her ankle was angled in the wrong direction. I crouched before her, gently scooping her up and rising to my feet. She looked up at me with wide eyes as the blood from my injuries flowed onto her clothes. There wasn't much that I could do about that. I stepped over rubble and scattered remains of what once had been the bank. I quickly carried her over through the now broken doors, and dumped her into the arms of the nearest firefighter, before turning around and heading back in. I picked up two children, one over each shoulder, both unconscious, and delivered them too to the waiting authorities.

As I headed in for a third trip, someone gripped my shoulder from behind. It was a firefighter. I winced as he tightened his grip, forcing me to turn around and face him.

"You're injured."

"Yeah, so are a lot of other people. We can do this one of two ways. You can let me do my work, and I can leave you to yours, or you can try to stop me and face a mess of trouble. Now if you don't mind, there are a lot of people still in need of assistance."

I broke away from his grip as I stumbled back into the building, by now the blood loss was catching up to me. I had no doubt that the ridges protruding from my back as well as the spikes sticking out of my arms were gaining a lot of attention. I didn't care. There were people to help, at the time that was all that mattered.

I looked forwards, nodding as I let a small smile crease my face as I saw the criminal being carted away by the police. It quickly disappeared as I turned my attention back to the task at hand.

The familiar blank glare came over my face as I headed over to a man strewn across the floor. He was pinned beneath a desk, moaning in pain as he made futile efforts to struggle loose. I made my way over to him, gripping the desk by the side, using most of my remaining strength I managed to pull the desk off of him and roll it in the opposite direction where it lay motionless. I looked down at his body. I knew that he too wasn't going to be able to walk. I picked him up in my arms, my blood mixing with his as we headed towards the door.

He looked up at me. "T-Thank You." I met his gaze, not breaking stride. I stared at him for a moment before looking forwards once again stumbling towards the door, dragging my worn body with me. The day's adventures were finally catching up with me. I was walking the line of exhaustion. The body could only take so much abuse.

I passed through the gaping hole in the front of the building as I walked him over to the waiting paramedics. Turning around, I headed back into the building, entering what looked like a war zone.

It was apparent that many had not made it; charred remains littered the floor, mixing in with the ruins of the bank interior. I heard a crash behind me. No longer caring, I turned around to face a set of five individuals looking at me. I warily glared at them with half open eyes.

"Titans, GO!"

They raced forwards, some flying, some walking; I didn't take the time to notice, which were doing which. I stumbled over to the nearest person that looked injured. It was yet another child. My eyes burned with disgust as I looked down at the unconscious child. A bloody stump was all that remained of what was once a functional arm. I scooped the child up in my arms as I headed back towards the entrance.

My progress was halted as a figure stepped into my path. I silently groaned, this was really the last thing I had time for. He looked down at my arms. "Nice spikes. I'm Robin, leader of the Teen Titans. Thanks for your help. We were told that you were the one who stopped the thief. I don't know how we can thank you."

I let my half open eyes size him up. Yep, definitely didn't care about this right now. There were more important things to be doing. My head rocked back and forth as I looked back at him, nodding back exhaustion. I stepped around him, brushing his shoulder as I headed towards the door once again. I had lost count of the trips that I had made, eventually they all blurred into one until it had become a continuous process. I limped out of the bank, my limbs feeling as if they were made of lead, getting heavier with each step. I shook my head, trying to rid my mind of dizziness as I dropped the sleeping child off at an ambulance.

Without even having to think I turned around, heading back towards the building, my eyes scanning for anyone who may need help. As I entered the building, I caught the attention of five young adults as they grouped around me, the one directly in front of me stepping forward. It was the same one who had tried to stop me last time. What was his name? Rick? Rover? No. It was Robin or something like that. I didn't even take the time to stop as I simply tried to step around me. He was quicker this time, moving in front of me again.

"You're hurt. Let us help you. It's the least we could do."

I shook my head, trying to get by him once again. But, he wasn't to be thwarted. He moved in front of me again. I had finally lost my patience. I reached out, picked him up by the shoulders, my shoulder and body protesting with every movement as they rippled with pain. Moving him out of the way, I continued towards the ruins.

A wave of dizziness overtook me as I stumbled forwards, barely able to balance myself at the last moment. Robin or whoever he was immediately was by my side, supporting my weight. One of his companions raced over, I took the time to notice that he was half robot. He reached his hand out, running a scanner over my upper body. I eyed him, eyed Robin, and then pushed them both away, as I rolled over and tried to rise, my frail legs giving out as I did so. Someone caught me, lowering me to the ground as the guy who was half robot once again began to run his scanner over me. I tried to prop myself up as I felt a hand push me back down. I looked down.

"Stay still, we'll take care of everything. Just relax. Everyone has been cleared out, you're the last one."

I looked up at the ring of concerned faces above me, then down at my bleeding wounds. I had finally crossed the border into exhaustion. Having driven my body too far this time, it finally betrayed me as my eyelids slowly began to close, darkness rimming the edge of my vision.

I was aware of fuzzy faces and far away voices as I drifted away. "Oh man, this doesn't look good, we need to get him back to the tower! Raven, can you get him back to the infirmary? We'll meet you there…."

The rest was a blur. I felt my body being lifted from the ground, resting on a gentle blanket of black energy as I was hoisted into the air and carried towards the parking lot. My body finally gave in as my eyes closed completely, my limbs going slack as I passed into oblivion.

My eyelids slowly fluttered open as I blinked a few times, clearing my vision as I glanced at my surroundings. I was laying on a bed beneath a white sheet, various wires and sensors placed on my chest and neck. Sitting up, I pulled the sheets back, looking down at my shoulder and side. The shoulder was heavily bandaged as well as the chest. With my heightened sense of touch, both made me very uncomfortable. I silently cursed the scientists who had done all of this too me as I looked around the room for my suit.

Eying it on the far side of the room draped over a chair, I slowly swung my legs over the side of the bed. I grabbed the wires in my good hand, pulling them off in one motion as beeping sounds pierced my sensitive ears. I pulled at the bandages revealing sutures on both wounds. I really was beginning to get annoyed. I hopped off the bed, balancing myself slowly as I headed over to get my suit.

Quickly slipping into it, I pressed the button on my wrist. I heard the hiss of air being pumped into the uniform. This suit had been specially designed to accommodate my sensitive sense of touch. By keeping a thin layer of air between my skin and the uniform, it made me a lot more comfortable. I ran my good arm over my back, the spikes that ran two rows down my back had retracted, leaving only the bony knobs that remained. I glanced down at my arms; the spikes were still there. Whoever these people were, they didn't know much about them. I grabbed my pack off of the chair. Opening it up, I grabbed my kit that contained a small handsaw and a file. Thinking about my current situation, rather than sawing them off as I usually did when I was done with a job, I decided it was best to keep them for the time being. Cutting them off and filing the stub down took a good half an hour, time I just didn't have. I put the black kit back into my bag, grabbing the black sheaths as I buckled them over my spikes.

These enabled me to still use my spikes in defense if necessary, but stopped me from injuring someone badly or even killing them. By covering the end of my pointed spikes, they allowed me to worry about other things. I wouldn't have to think about impaling someone. Even if I struck someone with the tip of a spike, it wouldn't penetrate; just leave a really nasty bruise.

I zipped up my backpack, slinging it over my shoulders and buckling it across my chest, wincing as the strap tightened around my injured shoulder. I walked over to the door, it was obviously automatic. It didn't open when I approached it. I tried two more times to no avail. The door wouldn't budge I had been locked in. Unsheathing both of my spikes, I drove them through the door repeatedly until there was an odd shaped circle of puncture holes in the door. Raising a leg into the air, I drove a foot against the door, the circular piece of metal flying backwards against the opposite wall. I quickly climbed through as more alarms blared in my ears and throughout the complex. I winced as the sound blasted through my ears and skull. I resheathed my spikes as I continued down the hallway, covering my ears with my hands as I stumbled forwards.

My luck finally gave out as I spotted a black clad figure behind me. Robin was racing towards me. I really didn't want a confrontation right then. I stumbled forwards as fast as could, with him hot on my trail. As I glanced back I took notice of the fact that another person had joined the pursuit, the half robot guy that had been with him at the bank. I eyed the open elevator in front of me, as well as the red headed girl that was casually striding out of it, she obviously hadn't heard the commotion. I raced past her, pushing her out of the elevator as I pressed the first button that came to view.

I focused my gaze on her as she spun around, mouth agape. As the doors slid shut, I raised my eyebrows and waved, letting a smile crease my face. That grin was immediately wiped from my face as I noticed the elevator was going up. Not good, I wanted to go down towards the base level. It would make my escape a lot easier. I pressed the button for the first floor, but the elevator continued its ascent. I looked at which button I had pushed, of course the top floor. I should not have been surprised based on my luck. I never had been one to get the easy way out of anything. As the elevator began to slow, I unsheathed my spikes; it always was nice to be prepared. I definitely wanted to be prepared for whatever I would find on the other side of that door. I dropped into a combat stance as the elevator pulled to a halt, and the doors slowly opened.

The sight beyond thoroughly confused me. There were two people in the room. A blue clad woman who sat Indian style, facing the window, levitating. There was also a green guy who I could only describe as looking like an elf. He had pointed ears, green hair, and a black and purple outfit. The green guy turned around from the TV, where he had paused whatever game he had been playing. He glanced casually back towards the elevator, no doubt to see who was entering the room.

By the reaction I got, I wasn't whom he had expected. "Dude, Raven, it's the one guy we brought back from the bank!"

Slowly the blue and black clad figure turned around to face me, eyes narrowed as she glared at me. She lowered to the ground, landing gently on her feet as she walked forwards. I glared back at her; staring matches really didn't intimidate me. I had faced a lot worse.

"Well, it appears our visitor is feeling better. So, who are you?"

I contemplated her question for a few seconds, and decided not to answer. I didn't really want to give anything away that could be used against me. I didn't know these people, and as far as I was concerned, they didn't need to know me either.

My attention was drawn in another direction as a door burst open on the side of the room. Three figures came racing through. The redheaded girl, Robin, and the robot man. Just what I needed. I sighed, clenching my hands into fists as I slowly walked forwards. I stopped directly in front of the blue clad girl as we stared at each other for a few moments. She held a steady gaze, unfaltering her as I tried to stare her down. She was definitely a stubborn one. I shrugged; I had better things to do and more things to worry about. The first of which was getting out of this place.

I turned around as a figure approached from behind. I didn't even have to look to guess whom; it was Robin, once again. He held a hand out. "I'm Robin, we kinda got a chance to meet yesterday. I would like to formally introduce you to the teen titans." He pointed them out one by one. "This is Raven, Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Starfire." He looked at me, expecting a response. Why did it always come down to this?

Taking a deep breath, I responded. "The name's Chrone. I appreciate the help and all, but I really need to get going." I walked towards the stairs. A hand caught my shoulder, Robin once again.

I was beginning to get very aggravated. "Look, you're not fully recovered yet. At least stay here until you're wounds heal."

"I said no, I have places to go and things to do. I never really did the whole team thing." He walked in front of me, eying my wounded shoulder. My body had betrayed me again. A scarlet stain had formed on my shoulder and was quickly spreading. I had split the sutures.

"You're bleeding again, at least let Cyborg take a look at it." Cyborg walked forward, putting a hand on my wound as he examined it.

"I said NO! I meant it." I ripped from his grip as I stormed towards the exit. Cyborg pressed a button, and the door slammed shut in front of me. "You need to stay here for awhile. You're in no condition to leave."

I turned around to face him, eyes burning with rage as again I clenched my hands into fists. This was the last straw; I could only contain my anger for so long. All five of them jumped a little as the ridges protruded from my back. I groaned under my breath as I entered hyper-mode, racing towards the window.

Raven must have sensed what I was about to do, because a black blanket of energy coated the windows as I ran into it full on. I fell backwards stunned for a moment as I lay on my back. I felt one of the contacts fall out of my eyes. All five of them gathered above me, staring down with shocked expressions. My orange reptilian eyes with black pupils stared back up at them. In a spite of anger I rose to my feet, spun around, and forced my way between the two closest people. Entering hyper-mode again I felt myself fall to the ground as a black cloud of energy grabbed hold of my feet. I caught myself with my arms. I screamed out in pain as I felt the last of the sutures in my shoulder give way under the stress as more blood oozed from the wound, dripping through the uniform and onto the floor, leaving red splotches. I was slowly dragged backwards as I was pulled to my feet my Robin and Cyborg, who held me taunt. I narrowed my eyes at Raven as she lowered to the ground, walking towards me until her face was mere inches from mine. "Nice eyes."

I finally lost control of my emotions until I could no longer contain my rage. With all of my strength I drove my captors in opposite directions. Raven was the first person I had to worry about. Her powers could halt my escape. I raced towards her, quickly sheathing my spikes so I wouldn't hurt her. I didn't want to injure any one, and when I was attacking one hundred percent, a lot could happen.

I turned my spike, hitting her with the blunt side as I raced forwards, past her and towards the window. A green rhino blocked my path. Just what I needed. I didn't want to take the time or effort to face beast boy, especially not in this form. I dove to the ground, sliding beneath him, hopping to my feet on the opposite side. The window was right in front of me. I closed my eyes as I broke the window with my spikes, diving through and towards the looming ground below.

Using techniques I had learned in training, I maneuvered my body until I was parallel to the ground. Entering hyper-mode, my feet made contact with the side of the tower as I ran down the side of the building. As I neared the ground, I slowed at the last moment, turning so that I was once again running, this time on the ground. I reached a cliff, looking down at the churning waters below, and then back at the five bodies approaching quickly, three by air and two by foot. I couldn't take all of them at once, not again.

Without a second thought I leapt from the cliff, and into the waters below. My suit kept most of the water out of my uniform, but somehow, a small amount of salt water managed to find its way into my uniform. I cringed as it made contact with my bloodied shoulder. Salt water and wounds didn't really do that well together. I struggled to get my head above the water, as I began swimming to shore.

An hour later I was within range of the shore. I kicked harder, pushed my body to the extent. I just wanted to get away from the city and its inhabitants. Especially those "Teen Titans." Definitely didn't like them, their powers could match mine easily. That was not something I was used to having to worry about. I felt my knees scrape against the sand beneath me. The water was shallow enough to stand. I stumbled to my feet, looking at the horizon. It was close to night, sunset reflected across the waters. Rubbing the back of my neck, I ran my good arm over the spikes sticking out of my neck. I made my way to shore, tripping in the process as I fell into ankle deep water, salt water splashing upwards and into my eyes.

I blinked a few times, waiting for the stinging sensation to leave my eyes. I peeled my suit off to the waist, eying the damage to my wounds. Salt had lodged its self into both wounds, but it had helped to slow some of the bleeding, even if it hurt like hell. I reached into my backpack, grabbing a bottle of fresh water as I bathed my wounds. They didn't look so bad after I washed the blood away, though a fresh coat soon coated the area I had just cleaned.

I sat there for a few moments, watching the horizon as the sun slowly retreated behind the skyscrapers. It was peaceful, just sitting there, not having to worry about the troubles of the world. But alas, I knew such peace was not meant for me. No time in my life had ever been peaceful or easy. I cringed as shivers ran up and down my spine as the ridges retreated back into my body.

I slipped back into my blood soaked suit, feeling better as the thin layer of air once again separated my wet uniform from my skin. I eyed the spikes coming out of my arms. I thought about taking the time to saw them off, but decided against it yet again. They may yet have had use that night. It wasn't worth the time or the waste.

I hopped to my feet, slinging my backpack over my shoulders as I began jogging down the beach, towards the city that loomed beyond. I glanced back at the Tower once more, silently cursing the members of the Teen Titans. They had definitely caused me quite a hassle. Turning around, I jogged off into the welcoming night, away from the Tower and away from its inhabitants.

The teen titans sat on the couch, gathered around the TV, watching the footage from that afternoon. Having started where Chrone had left the infirmary and made his way to the main room where they had confronted him, and he had escaped. For the third time, they replayed the scenes where he had thrown Robin and Cyborg to the side, knocked Raven across the room, slid under Beast Boy, and jumped out the window.

"Man, did you see some of those moves? I've never seen someone move that fast, or disable us that quickly either. Imagine what he could do if he were fighting for us?" Cyborg finished.

Robin stood up, walking in front of the TV. "I planned on asking him to stay for awhile, and then if things worked out, I was considering asking him to stay for good. He obviously has the moves and skill to be a titan, but I don't know about the attitude. He was very much so against the idea. You saw what lengths he went to just to get out of the tower, I would hate to see what would happen if he were a criminal."

All eyes turned to Raven as she addressed her comrades. "Whomever this guy is, he has the skill, and the talent as Robin pointed out. I for one am a little skeptical as to whether we should jump right to asking him. We did that with Terra, and just look how that turned out." She looked straight at Beast Boy. He narrowed his eyes as she brought up Terra. Unfazed, she continued. "I suggest keeping tabs on him, first off is finding him. The city is a big place, there are innumerable places that he could be, or he might not even be in the city at all. I propose that for a while, we simply observe what he does in his spare time, recon. He obviously was a big help at the bank, but that could've been spur of the moment. We all saw how aggressive he was when he was in here. Emotional outbursts like that could endanger the entire team. We need dependable members, not people who we can only count on half of the time. There's also a good chance that he won't even want to join us. He didn't seem to crazy about the idea when we last had a chance to confront him about it. I believe his exact words were, 'I don't do teams.' That's really not the attitude we need."

Attention turned back to Robin. "I think that's a good idea for now, I'll alert the police to tell them to keep an eye out for our friend, as well as some of my local contacts. That's really all we can do right now. For tonight, don't worry about it. I'll talk to some people, see what I can find out about this notorious 'Chrone.' I suggest that everyone gets a good night's sleep tonight, we have training bright and early."

Everyone nodded in agreement as people headed out in various directions, Raven to her room, Cyborg to the lab, Robin the computer to see what he could dig up on their visitor. Beast Boy hooked up the game cube and progressed to playing a round of Halo, as Starfire headed over to kitchen to make some of her dreaded pudding.

I walked down into the abandoned alleyway, approaching the rusted door as I knocked three times. A gruff voice barked from the other side of the door. "Who's there?"

I sighed impatiently. Why did I have to go through this every time I came back to this place? "It's Chrone."

A panel in the door was pulled back as a pair of eyes peered out at me. I held up one of my spikes to show him that it was really me. The panel slid shut as I heard the locks being withdrawn as the door creaked open on its rusted hinges.

"Hey Chrone, the boss has been lookin' for you, you should probably go see him, he didn't sound too happy last time he came around here looking for you."

Again I sighed. This day just kept getting better and better. I made my way down the stairs, through the main room where other meta-humans sat around tables playing cards and in front of an old television set where some show was playing in black and white.

A few of the guys I knew waved to me, one or two asking where I had been. I smiled, waved, lied about my whereabouts, and made my way into the back hallway where I knocked on my boss's door. After a few moments I heard shuffling on the other side of the door as the door was opened to reveal my boss with a perturbed look on his face.

"Where the _hell _have you been?"

"Uh, it was my day off, I kinda went out into the city for a break."

"Oh, well I changed my mind, you have a fight tonight. Blank dropped out this morning, got in a brawl with some gang, you have to take his place."

I shook my head; somehow I had seen this one coming. I rubbed my injured shoulder as my boss eyed it for the first time. His face turned to a surprised expression.

"What did you do to your shoulder?"

"Uh, got shot. It's ok, I just ripped the sutures."

"Well, go have Roy take a look at it. I need you in peak condition tonight you're going up against Reptan."

"Whatever. What time is the fight?"

"9:00. Be on time. Oh, and make sure you get rid of your spikes before the event. It always makes a better introduction when you materialize them in the ring. Gets the crowd more excited."

I shrugged, turning towards the door to walk out. I had enough time to get my shoulder stitched up and get somewhat cleaned up before the event. I looked back at my boss one more time. He had turned his TV back on. He had a cigar in his mouth, his beard looked like it hadn't been shaved in a few days. I was guessing it hadn't been that great of a week for him. Must have lost some bets.

I walked out of the room, shutting the door on my way out as I headed out of the room and down the hallway to go see Roy, the closest thing we had to anyone with medical training. He was ok for patching people up, but I don't necessarily think that I would entrust my life in his hands. He had gotten kicked out of medical school in his sophomore year. I still didn't know what for, he was very touchy about the topic.

I opened his door without knocking; he was never doing anything all that important. Most of the time you could find him with his head buried in a book. He looked up at me as I walked in. "So what did ya do to yourself this time?"

I shrugged, my lips curling upwards. "Got shot through the shoulder, and a graze along my side. Already got the bullet out, but the sutures broke."

"No problem, we can have that fixed up in no time. Go ahead and sit over at my table, I'll grab my kit. Strip to your waist."

He walked into the back room as I headed over to his card table, where he had a chair sitting next to it. I pulled off my wet uniform and sat down as he returned. He prodded around the wound, then turning to his kit he threaded a needle and went to work. I watched him with curious eyes as he went about fixing my battered body. Insert, pull tug, snip. I soon lost track of time as the minutes slipped by. Before I knew what was happening, he was finished, and moving onto the graze in my side. That one only required three sutures, the other ones had held. He cleaned the wounds one more time and then went ahead with bandages.

"Uh, I'll pass the bandages. Sensitive skin and all, they make me uncomfortable."

He shrugged. "Guess that's ok, you should be fine. Bet the boss would probably have ya go without them as well. With tonight's fight being first blood and all. He always likes it better when his fighters are presentable. My eyes narrowed as addressed him.

"Since when is this battle first blood? The boss never mentioned that little detail."

"Yeah, he's had it planned for awhile now, I'm surprised ya didn't hear. Well, you're all done. I would change your outfit before the battle, the one you have on is pretty bloody. Oh, and good luck tonight, it should be an interesting match."

"Thanks, for everything, but I need to go have a few words with the boss."

"There were a few misunderstandings about the match tonight" I rose to my feet, storming out of the room, grabbing my pack on the way out. Still stripped to the waist, I didn't care; I had to have a little chat with Tony, my boss. He had obviously been a little sketchy on the details.

Without knocking, I stormed into his office, slamming my fists on his battered desk. "When the hell did you plan on telling me this was a first blood battle? I told you that I wouldn't do them. I can do knockout, but I refuse to do first blood. I told you that when I first came here."

"Whoa. Slow down for a minute. Yes, this is a first blood battle, but I need you. I have important people coming tonight to see this battle; I need the best out there tonight. Reptan is Cory's number one fighter, I need you in the pit tonight."

"I said no, I meant it."

"Come on Chrone, I need you. There's no one else that can face this guy and win. There's a lot riding on this game tonight. Sixty Thousand dollars! Does that mean anything to you? That's how much is riding on this match tonight. I can pay you six, that's four times what you normally make."

I thought about this for a moment. "I want ten thousand. No less or I won't do it."

"Come on Chrone, we have a history. That's practically murder. I can't spare you that much."

"I want ten. I know you need me, there's no way you can get a fighter on this short of notice. Let alone one that can be Cory's champion. You and I both know that I am the best."

"Fine! Get out of here before I change my mind. Strip to the waist, I want this match to be good. I have some major clients coming tonight."

"Whatever. I have stuff to do." I turned around walking out of the room, allowing myself a small smile. Ten thousand, that was enough to keep me going for at least two months. More than enough for what I planned. I headed down another hallway, stopping before my door as I slid the key into the old lock, letting myself in.

I walked over to the bed, throwing my pack on top as I turned around, heading into the closet, and began gathering up the meager possessions I had. That bank incident had gained me a little more attention than I wanted. I planned on going through the match that night, and then splitting after getting my money. As I packed my gear into my backpack, I silently thought back over one of the speeches our trainers had given us. In fact, it had been one of the very first ones we had received….

…"_Combat. The one word that will dictate your life, your very being. You guys are not here for a vacation. The U.S. government has invested millions to make capable fighters for the military, one-man assault teams. You will learn hand-to-hand combat starting today. The methods you will learn here are not the wimpy, recreational stuff that most people are taught. You will be taught how to disable any enemy, and if necessary, to kill. You will be taught how to survive in any situation, to always come out on top, and to accomplish your assignments. From this day forward, you no longer have an identity, you have a number. The number you have been branded with across the shoulder will become your only identification for the rest of your life, get used to it. Moving on, there are four steps to winning any battle against any foe. Step one, assess. Assess your potential enemy's skill level. Never enter a battle unless you know you will come out on top. Two, engage. Engage your enemy in combat. Three, disable. Unlike many recreational methods may boast, in true combat, there are no rules. Use your surroundings and the skills you have been gifted with to your advantage. Find your enemy's weakness and use it against them. Stage four, kill. Once you have crippled the enemy, if necessary deliver the final blow. If a foe poses a potential threat to you, or your mission, kill them. Never leave loose ends, they always come back to stab you in the back. Follow these four steps and you will win in any situation…"_

I rubbed the branded number etched into my shoulder. 29134. For the eight years I had spent at that military complex, that number had become my identity, just as the generals and trainers had promised that very first day. I winced as I thought back over the training I had endured, often it had been abusive. Shaking my head, I brought myself back to the present as I zipped up my backpack, having gathered all of my materials. I grabbed my fighting uniform off of the bed, slipping out of the bloody one I was wearing and into the new one. Unlike most of the uniforms I had, this one had two pieces, a top and the bottom. I wore only the bottom, as instructed. Fighting with no protection on the upper body, while dangerous, made for a better show when it came down to first blood. It made things more dramatic.

I stuffed the bloody uniform into a plastic bag and then into my backpack as I went about opening my small black kit, grabbing the hand saw out of my bag. I pressed my arm against my leg as I began sawing off the first of my spikes. The genetic enhancements I had been fitted with allowed me to rematerialize my spikes whenever I felt like it. I didn't really understand all of it, but from what I had gathered, there was some special enzyme in my body that allowed me to do such things. After awhile though, if I rematerialized my spikes too often, the enzyme ran low and I could no longer get more spikes. I had only ever done that once, in a weeklong fight for my life behind enemy lines in North Korea. I had been deployed to retrieve a missing squadron of soldiers. Turned out, only one of them was left alive when I got there, and I had to work my butt off to get us both back alive. I barely made it out of that one. Some of the scratches I had gotten in various predicaments had become infected when I had to swim through a creek. Made me sicker than hell, it was worse than being shot. That one alone left me in the base infirmary for two weeks, puking my guts out whenever I managed to get something into my system.

I finished sawing off the first of my spikes, and then moved on to the second one. I paused for a moment to hold up the spike I had just cut off. They were ingenious in their design; I had to hand it to the scientists who had done the job. Both spikes emerged from my lower arm right below from the elbow. At the back, they ended in a hook shape. They then shot forwards, ending at about where my wrist was.

((((I know this is kinda hard to envision, so I made a pic of it on my comp. Check it out here's the link: http:img30.exs.cx/my.php?locimg30&imagechrone1xg.png))))

Finished sawing both of them off, I replaced the handsaw in my kit as I pulled my file out. I moved on to file them down until they were no more than round knobs protruding from my skin. The trick was to get them filed down to the right height. If I went to far, they had to re-grow, and I couldn't use them until then. Having made that mistake on more than one occasion I knew that it could take upwards of a month to re-grow again. Not to mention it hurt like hell. The only thing I can really compare it to is cutting your fingernails to short until you cut into live nail. It's the same way with my spikes. Up to a certain point, they are live bone, and when I cut into that part, it hurts like hell. I ran my hand over the now smooth, round knobs. Satisfied with the job, I put my kit away and looked at the clock, it was eight. I had a good half hour before I had to head down to the pit to check in.

I laid back on my bed, going through the final preparation, taking out my contacts. I had replaced the one I had lost back at the tower with a new one from my pack. I now took both of them out, blinking a few times. I wasn't used to having them out. The only time I ever removed them was for a fight or when I was sleeping. The titans I gotten a glimpse of them, and their reaction had been like everyone else's, one of shock and disgust. I had to fit into society as much as possible if I wanted to attract little attention. That meant contacts and long sleeved shirts all the time. Couldn't let people see my knobs on my arms or the ridges on my back.

I crossed my arms on my chest as I let my eyes droop shut as I went about the first stage of defeating any enemy, assessment. I reflected over all the times I had seen Reptan fight. He was definitely one to dive right in. He didn't have the grace or stamina that most fighters had, but made up for it with brute strength and size. I replayed some of the battles I had seen him in through my head, recalling everything that I knew about him. Knowing your enemy was a crucial step in defeating them.

Robin halted his endeavors on the computer as his personal communicator went off. He grabbed it off his belt as he answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Hey Robin, it's Deavons, I have a job I need your help with tonight."

"What is it?"

"We're gonna try to break up an underground fighting ring. We need people on the inside. People who won't attract attention to themselves."

"I think we can do that, what time do you need us?"

"The fight's at 9:00 tonight, I was hoping that I could get you and whomever else you wanted to bring down to the station within about twenty minutes."

"Uh, I guess I can do that. I'll bring Raven. No costumes I'm guessin'?"

"Yeah, we need you guys to blend in with the crowd."

"Sounds good, I'll meet you at the station in twenty minutes."

"See ya then."

The transmission ended as Robin spun around in his chair, leaving the lab as he headed up to Raven's room. He knocked on the door. It slowly opened a crack to reveal Raven.

"What do you want?"

"Uh, Sergeant Deavons has a job for us, an underground fighting ring. I need you to go with me. No costumes this time, normal street garb."

"Ok, whatever. I'll be downstairs in five minutes." She shut the door as Robin stood there, rubbing the back of his neck. He turned around, heading back to his room where he changed into a pair of jeans, a white t-shirt, tennis shoes, leather jacket, and a pair of shades in place of his mask. He wore his costume underneath, pocketing the mask. Just in case, he silently thought to himself.

He proceeded to heading down to Cyborg's lab where he knew he would find his comrade. He walked in, Cyborg turned around from his computer console to face him.

"Uh, Raven and I have a job in the city tonight, an underground fighting ring the police want to break up. Mind being backup tonight?"

"No problem, I'll be right down."

Fifteen minutes later, the three of them were standing in Deavon's office.

"Ok, here's how it's going to work. Raven, Robin, you two will be the insiders on this one, keep us aware of what's going on inside. We need to catch an actual fight in progress to get the bust. If all goes well, we'll be able to bring in the ringleader, his fighters, and major clients. Cyborg, you can help our forces on the outside. We have two SWAT teams in on this one, I'm sure they wouldn't mind some help. Here are the tickets, and your headsets. The fight is downtown, in an abandoned warehouse, here's the address. Now hurry up and get down there, the fight starts in half an hour. We don't have much time."

I hopped off my bed, taking one more look in the mirror as I prepared to head down to the pit for the fight. I shouldered my pack, heading down the warehouse where the fight would be held, conveniently adjoined to the current building I was in.

I headed down a few hallways, waving at various people and meta-humans as they prepared for their matches or were heading down to the ring to watch. Tonight's match was going to be a big one. I walked through the main room, and through the double doors that led to the pit. I headed down the stairs, beneath the platforms where spectators would watch. The pit was basically that, a pit. Elevated platforms were arranged around the warehouse at different levels. The pit was a twenty by twenty hole in the ground with a dirt floor and wooden walls. The lowest viewing platform was a good fifteen feet above the ground with railings to prevent anyone from falling in.

I strode down to the check in table, where a guy sat with a list in front of him. I gave him my name, handing over my pack as I was allowed past him. There was no locker room or anything, only the wooden doors on opposite ends of the pit where the two competitors entered. As I stood in front of the door, my boss approached from the shadows without a sound. I turned to face him.

"Hey Chrone. Good luck tonight, do me a favor and beat the crap out of this guy. Sixty thousand dollars, that's a lot. Try not to hurt him too bad; I have to pay for the damages myself. If necessary though, you can rough him up a bit, but if anyone asks, I advised against it."

Without waiting for a response, he turned around, walking towards the stairs, no doubt to go to his reserved platform to watch the match. I shook my head as the two guys standing next to me nodded towards me, opening the doors as I jogged in.

I winced at the sound of the crowd. My match had drawn a lot more people than I was used to coming to these matches. People screamed, clapped, whistled, and stomped their feet as I came in, eying my adversary as he did the same from the opposite side. The match was about to begin.

I moved to the side of the ring as the doors slammed shut behind me and were locked. No turning back now. I closed my eyes for a moment as the ridges protruded from my back, my spikes materializing as the crowd went into a frenzy, cheering even more loudly. I looked at my reptilian opponent. He was roughly shaped like a man, stood on two legs. But then, he was more like an alligator or something of the sort. Scales covered his body; he had a head and snout that resembled that of an alligator, sharp rows of teeth smiling at me as his forked tongue danced around in his mouth. Large feet and hands ending in claws, a tail swishing back and forth behind him.

He made the first move, charging towards me. I quickly sidestepped him as he missed me, screeching to a halt right before hitting the wall as he turned around to face me once more. I smiled at him, raising an eyebrow. I knew exactly what I was doing. By provoking him he lost his intelligent train of thought, and would charge in blindly, I was exploiting his weakness.

He did just as I had suspected him to do, charging in again like a mad bull. This time, I leapt into the air, springing off his back as he was thrown off balance landing on the ground. I made my move, turning around and landing on his back before he had the chance to get up. My weight didn't do much to faze him as he rose to his feet, charging towards the nearest wall as I held on with all of my strength. He turned at the last moment, ramming his backside, and me, into the wall. I slid off his back wincing as I fell to the ground. He smirked at me, placing a clawed foot on my chest as he pressed downwards. I cringed as he pressed harder and harder, until most of his 400 pounds was bearing down on my stomach. A body could only take so much abuse. In a last ditch effort; I grabbed his leg, wrenching it to the side as he fell to the ground next to me. I hopped to my feet; he glared up at me grinning.

What did he have to be so happy about? I was the one standing over him.

"Round one goes to Reptan!"

I looked down at my chest; a thin river of blood ran down from the gash in my side. The stitches had given way again.

I groaned inwards as we again took our positions on opposite sides of the ring, preparing for the second round of three.

"Well if it isn't our mysterious friend. He definitely gets around." Raven whispered to Robin.

He heard the voice of Deavons in his ear. "What's going on? Is there a fight in progress? Robin! I need some answers. I have two teams waiting out here for my signal."

"Yeah, there's a fight in progress, but can we hold off for a few minutes? I want to see this fight. As a personal favor to me?"

"Uhhh! Fine! Just make sure to contact me before the match is over. We need to catch them in the act."

"Ok. Deal."

Raven looked at him skeptically. "Why did you do that?"

"I want to see how he fights in action. We got a taste of it earlier, but I want to see how he does against an adversary twice his size."

"Whatever. Are you still actually considering asking him to be a titan? He's involved in criminal activities." Robin motioned Raven to be quiet; the second round was about to begin.

We were motioned forward by the referee stationed on the platform above us. You really didn't want to get stuck in the ring in the middle of a match.

Once again, Reptan raced forwards, plowing towards me. As he bypassed me, I stuck a leg out as he went reeling towards the ground. I released a slight chuckle as he picked himself up, face chalked in mud from the arena.

We circled for a few seconds as I moved in, spikes aimed towards him. I entered hyper-mode; it was time to get to work. I barreled towards him, driving a shoulder into his chest. He went reeling backwards as I pulled to a stop in the center of the ring. That burst had taken a lot out of me. I stood in a combat stance, arms held out in front of me defensively.

He rolled over once again, but this time just stood there, weighing his options. I didn't give him time to do just that as I charged towards him again, this time driving one of my spikes towards his scaled shoulder. I ran past him, turning around to see the damage I had done.

My eyes opened wide with horror as I noticed he hadn't even been nicked by my spike, still no blood. I thought back to the matches I had seen him fight in. The only places I had ever seen him bleed were the wrist, the bottom of his foot, and the skin beneath his chin. Nice, this was going to make things a lot more difficult.

I charged towards him again, knocking him back against the wall as wood splintered in all directions. I immediately grabbed his foot, driving my spike through his foot and out the other side.

A howl of pain erupted from his foot as he kicked me backwards. I shook my head as I heard the ref call out.

"Round two to Chrone!"

The last round had arrived. I looked over at Reptan, hobbling over to the wall, favoring his injured foot. I didn't blame him; I wouldn't have wanted to be on the receiving end of that attack either.

He looked towards me maliciously as I waved to him. He turned around to face me, claws fully extended, tail beating back and forth vigorously. He charged forwards as the final round began. I effortlessly dodged that attack, stepping to the side. I turned around to face him, but he was nowhere to be seen. I winced as I felt myself being grabbed by two sets of reptilian hands, claws digging into my flesh as he squeezed tighter and tighter. I craned my neck around to face him; he glared at me with a toothy grin.

I took my one free arm behind me, driving it towards his head. He ducked with little difficulty, and then opening his mouth, as he bit down on my already injured shoulder.

My confidence went out the window as I felt teeth break through flesh and chomp down on my muscles and bone. With the last bit of rational thought in my mind, I took my spike to his throat, he withdrew howling once again. I looked to the referee for a judgment.

"DRAW!"

I shook furiously, trying to contain my anger. Rivers of blood cascaded down from my shoulder as it hung limply at my side. He glared at me, angrily. He had expected to win that one too.

I looked over to my boss, he nodded twice. I acknowledged his motion by nodding back at him. I had just received the permission I needed to release my full fury. Tony had just given me permission to disable him by all means necessary, but to try not to kill him.

I ran my good hand over my shoulder, I could clearly see down to the bone, shredded muscle hanging from the wound. This was to be the final round. I no longer cared if I killed him. The damage he had done would take weeks to heal.

I charged toward him, he charged towards me. I extended my arms, using all of my effort just to get my injured arm up, but I needed both spikes to accomplish the attack I had planned. Just as we were about to collide, I sprung into the air, driving my spikes towards him full force. No longer was I messing around or holding back. He was about to experience the full wrath of my anger combined with my abilities and training. Full force, my spike drove into his chest, shattering scales as it dug into his flesh, three, four inches in.

I withdrew the spike as I raised both of them into the air and began repetitively stabbing him. Only a few of them actually punctured through the scales, but by the howling he was doing, I suspected that I was doing some damage. As a last attack, I buried my entire spike into his shoulder, just as he had bitten down on mine. I wretched my arm to the side as I felt my spike break off from my arm, buried into his shoulder. With the last bit of effort he had, he grabbed for my head, he managed to get hold of it. He squeezed on my skull, intent on breaking it. I had no intention of letting him do that. I felt the claws scraping against my face, cheeks, forehead, and neck. I drove my leg back against the spike I had buried in his shoulder as he finally let go, collapsing to the ground clutching his shoulder.

"Match goes to Chrone!"

The crowd erupted in an uproar as I beamed at my boss. I nodded towards him, giving him a small salute. He beamed back at me, I wouldn't expect any less, he had just won sixty thousand dollars. That was no small purse.

I walked back towards the wall, planning on exiting the ring.

"FREEZE! Jump City Police!" Twenty plus black clad SWAT team members rappelled down from the ceiling, some to each level, four to the platform above me, weapons aimed down at me and my newly fallen adversary. I watched out of the corner of my eye as two figures pulled off the clothes they were wearing, revealing their uniforms. If it wasn't Raven and Robin of the Teen Titans. Just what I needed on this already terrible day.

I made a split towards the exit, as the doors opened and two shield bearing officers came charging in. I entered hyper-mode, lowering my good shoulder as I barreled past them and out of the blood stained pit. I looked around, officers were heading in all directions, pursuing and herding my fellow fighters towards the exit. I glanced back at the brightly lit pit, the officers were on their feet, but had decided to take care of Reptan first. I didn't blame them. I grabbed my pack as I ran through the corridor and into the nearest hallway, which I knew led to an exit. Every hallway led to an exit eventually. I glanced back, someone had finally noticed me and two officers were chasing after me.

I stumbled, falling to the ground, letting out a cry as I landed on my shredded shoulder. The two officers were immediately on top of me. They rolled me over, hauling me to my feet, as I was dragged back towards the pit and the waiting teen titans no doubt.

I had no intention of being arrested. I glared at them with my orange eyes as I entered hyper-mode, catching both of them off guard as I pummeled them forwards, jumping over their fallen bodies as I raced back down the hallway.

Two figures crouched down next to the officers, then came charging after me. I knew they were the two titans based on the fact that one of them was flying. I ducked into the nearest room, looking back behind me. I smacked my head as I noticed that I was leaving a trail of blood.

I also took note of the fact that the world was beginning to spin around me. The blood loss and exhaustion were catching up to me. I peered out into the hallway, to meet the eyes of the masked caped crusader.

I drove my good fist into his chest as I turned, running down the hallway once more. He doubled over, but quickly regained his composure and came racing after me. I took the nearest flight of stairs, up to ground level, and then upwards again to the roof.

I could hear the pounding of his metal boots against the stairs below me as he continued the chase. I lowered a shoulder as I knocked the locked door off of its hinges, emerging on the metal roof of the warehouse. Robin and Raven didn't take long to appear.

Raven prepared a burst of energy when Robin held up a hand. "Let me take him on my own." She nodded towards him as he approached me. Great, another fight, four rounds with Reptan, not to mention the escape from the Tower, the swim to shore, and the escapade at the bank, all in the course of one day. Now the teenaged brat wanted to play. Well, play we would.

He charged forwards, fists extended in front of him. I sidestepped, entering hyper-mode and hitting him from behind, sending him sprawling to the ground. H rolled over, kicking upwards as I loomed over him. I screamed out as he caught my shoulder with a foot. As if I hadn't taken enough abuse already.

As I pulled a red hand away from my shoulder, he eyed my wounds. All of the sutures had split for the second time that day, blood dripped from the gashes on my face, trickling into my eyes and mouth. Muscle and bone could be seen in my shoulder, and still, he kept coming.

I closed my eyes for a moment as I composed myself. The world was spinning once again. This guy really didn't know when to call it quits. Neither did I for the matter. He charged towards him, my one spike out in front of me. I drove a fist into his eye as he hopped to his feet. He groaned, I craned my head to the side, wiping blood from my eyes at the same time.

He grabbed something from his belt. I had heard about those things. They had a dorky name, birdorangs or something. He held three of them between his fingers as he hurled them at me all at once. I dodged the first one, deflected the second one with a spike. I felt a searing pain as one of them made contact with my leg. Just what I needed, more gashes. Eying him, eying his partner, I knew that this was one battle that I couldn't win. I looked around, looking for a route of escape. The only one that came to mind was jumping off the roof and pulling the same kind of trick that I had out of the Tower window that afternoon.

I looked back once more; entering hyper-mode I raced towards the edge of the building. I took a running leap as I jumped from the building, into the air. I allowed myself a small smile as I looked up to see the bewildered faces of Robin and Raven. I looked back down; I still had a good twenty feet to the ground. I maneuvered my body parallel to the ground as I felt something wrap around my right leg, jerking me to a stop. Halting my descent. I swung back and forth in the air, Robin's grappling hook wrapped around my ankle. He grinned down at me, giving me a small salute as Raven summoned a black ball of energy around me as I was pulled back to the roof. Raven elevated me in the air, facing towards her and Robin.

I narrowed my eyes at them as I tested the energy surrounding me. It wasn't that strong, I decided to give it one more shot. I thrust my body forward, apparently catching both of them off guard as the black mist dissipated, I managed to get a leg into Robin's gut as I angled my spike towards his chest, but the black energy enveloped me again, this time restricting me even tighter, forcing my limbs against my side as Robin picked himself up and walked towards me.

"Well, I have to hand it to him, he definitely is a determined one." Raven's eyes turned pure white as she summoned more power, building it up inside my restrictive bonds, as the bonds grew stronger, until I couldn't even twitch a muscle. Robin walked up towards me, cocking his head to the side as he looked at me. He stopped a foot in front of me, reaching a gloved hand out to my wound, pulling it back dripping with blood.

"Let's get him down to Cyborg, he's gonna need a lot of patching."

Raven nodded as she formed a flat disk of black energy, which she and Robin walked onto as she lowered us to the ground. It wasn't as if I had much choice in the matter.

Three SWAT officers met us as we reached the ground, two aiming their weapons at my head. As if I really had a chance to get away. I was blinking back exhaustion with every passing moment, the pain I had refused to acknowledge had taken its revenge, I was definitely feeling it now that things had finally slowed down, and I was no longer driven by adrenalin. I felt my warm blood trickle from my cuts, and scrapes, and flow freely from my shoulder and side.

"We'll take him from here Robin." A voice said from behind the three officers. They made an opening as a figure walked in between them.

"Uh, you're welcome I guess, but I think we'll take care of this one personally. He's the one that helped with the bank and all. Can you cut him a little slack? We plan on taking him back to The Tower with us. He's gonna need a lot of medical attention. We'll keep an eye on him."

"I suppose, you can take him, but I don't want to have to regret this." He eyed me and my wounds one more time before turning around and walking back towards the flashing lights of police vehicles, leaving me with the two people I hated most at that moment.

"Let's get him over to the T-car, any idea where Cyborg is?"

"I think he parked on the other side of the warehouse." She flew in the general direction of where I suspected we would meet Cyborg, me in tow. Robin jogged after us, watching me the entire time. Like I was really gonna try anything, really. I doubted I even had the energy at that point.

My head dropped to my chest as my eyelids began to droop. I fought against my body's will, I wouldn't pass out. I focused on keeping my eyes open, trying to raise my head to no avail. My energy had long ago been depleted.

I glanced wearily around as my fellow fighters were dragged kicking and screaming into the police trucks. One being carried caught my attention. It was my old pal Reptan. I allowed myself a silent chuckle as I imagined him wearing an orange jumpsuit. I then looked back over to Raven, and then down at Robin, I had yet to figure out why they were so interested in me in particular.

My thoughts were diverted as I spotted what I assumed was the "T-car." Man did they have dorky names for just about everything. Birdorang, the T-car? Raven lowered herself to the ground, keeping me hovering just above the earth as her animatronic friend approached.

"Hey Rae, how did things go? Who do you have here?"

She turned me around so that I was facing the curious figure. His jaw dropped as he saw my wounds, and then realized that it was me.

"Our all familiar friend from this morning." Raven said sarcastically.

He quickly approached; fingering my wound as he examined it, blood coating his artificial hand. As he stuck a finger into the shoulder wound its self, I screamed out, trying to draw backwards. Raven must have been taken by surprise, because she let her guard down, I was sent sprawling across the cement, landing in a heap, my shoulder taking the impact.

I felt tears welling up in my eyes. I wouldn't cry, I wouldn't. The pain may have been unbearable, but I wouldn't cry. Tears were a sign of weakness. I wouldn't allow these people that kind of satisfaction.

I rolled over, gasping for air as the pain overwhelmed me. Everything was red, my chest, my face, my vision, my hands. A blanket of blood covered every visible part of my upper body.

I made a futile attempt to stand. I managed to make it to my feet before my legs gave out on me and I collapsed to the ground, spitting out a mouthful of blood. Cyborg jogged over to my side, rolling me over onto my back as he ran a scanner over my beaten body.

"Jeez Rae, that was kinda harsh."

"I didn't mean to-"

I began to struggle, squirming away as Cyborg placed a hand on my uninjured shoulder. "Easy, stay still." I struggled more violently; he tightened his grip until I cried out. Couldn't he understand? I couldn't take any more pain!

I began to shake uncontrollably, what was wrong? Robin approached from behind, he had a stretcher I his arms. He brought it over as Cyborg rolled me over onto my injured side. I couldn't keep the pain hidden any longer, nor my emotions contained. Tears spilled down my cheeks as I continued to shiver, mixing with the blood that already covered my face. My tears turned red as they flowed down my cheeks and onto my chest. I was rolled back over, this time on the stretcher as Cyborg grabbed something out of his medical bag. Bandages. He bunched a wad of them into a ball as he pressed them against my shoulder, filling the gaping hole. My eyes opened wide in horror. I just wanted the pain to stop.

"Stop, please…"

"Easy, we'll take care of you."

He wrapped more bandages around my shoulder, then placing a blanket over me as I was strapped into place, the gurney lifted, and placed into the back of the T-car where the seats had been laid down to make room.

My eyes drooped shut as I passed out, the pain finally ending.

I apparently wasn't out very long, because I woke up as I was being moved to an examination table. An oxygen mast obscured my vision, but I was able to make out Raven, Robin, and Cyborg moving about the infirmary, the very one I had found myself in the previous morning. I felt steel restraints being applied to my chest, arms, and legs, holding me immobile on the cold table.

Cyborg walked around to my head, pulling back my drooping eyelids, shining a blinding light in. "Hey, you're awake. You're pretty bashed up, its gonna be a long night for all of us. How are you feeling?"

How the hell did he think I was feeling? But the most I could manage was a groan.

I raised my head a little, looking down at my battered body. I let it fall back against the table as Cyborg yelled something over to Raven.

"Get me some blood expanders, he's lost to much. Robin, get a sample of his blood down to the lab and clone six units for him. He's lost way to much blood as it is. Rae? Grab me some prophamine, let's go ahead and knock him out for the night, the next few hours are going to be pretty painful.

Oh God not drugs. I could handle the pain, no drugs.

"No…drugs. Please…" I pleaded with him.

He looked down at me, laying a hand on my forehead. "There's no way you could take the pain."

Raven handed him something as he raised a syringe into the light, filling it with some sort of chemical. I watched with horror filled eyes as he brought it down towards me. I tried to struggle, to break free. I didn't care that it was physically impossible. I just wanted to get away from everything. He laid a hand on my arm, finding a vein as I felt the needle break through skin. A burning sensation, a great pain, and my eyes slid shut as I passed into oblivion for the third time that day.


	2. Chapter 2

18

I slowly opened my eyes to once again find myself in the infirmary, this time I felt a lot groggier, like I was swimming under water. It was as if everything was hazy, and moving in slow motion. As I tried to sit up, I realized that something was holding me down. Looking down at my chest, I could see the faint outline of restraints beneath the sheets. I looked around the med-bay.

Ironic as it was, I found myself in the same bed I had been on my previous visit here. Partly out of curiosity, and partly out of boredom, I tested the strength of the restraints. They were strong enough; not to mention made of steel, I wasn't going anywhere any time soon. Beyond the curtain draped around my bed, I could see the outline of the door in the shadows. I silently chuckled; the door had been replaced, and probably reinforced. I had no doubt in my mind that it was locked. I tested my shoulder, to find that it was bound against my chest in some sort of brace. It hurt like hell when I even tried to move it a little bit, I obviously hadn't made that much progress in my recovery. Enhanced immune system and DNA would allow me to fully recover much faster. If I had a broken bone, but it was set correctly, I could fully regenerate it in one to two weeks, compared to the months it would take a normal individual. I had a feeling that I had at the very least fractured my collarbone when Reptan had decided to wrap his jaws around my shoulder.

I let my head fall back down the pillow as the beeping monitors droned on above my head, making my living hell complete.

"So, who is this guy?" Robin questioned Cyborg as they sat in the room outside the infirmary.

"I can' t really tell you that much about him, all we have is his name."

"What about his abilities?"

"That's where things get interesting. He has those spikes on his arms. I suspect he can regenerate them based on the fact that you said he materialized them when he was fighting in that brawl, not to mention the one he buried in Reptan's shoulder. I didn't mess with them; I don't really know anything about them. Other than that, he had artificial bio-skin covering his good shoulder. I peeled that back, and found this." He motioned to a photograph on the monitor on the wall.

"It's a brand mark of some sort. 29134. It could have endless meanings. Moving on, he also has some sort of tracking chip underneath the brand mark. I couldn't tell you what that is for either, other than the fact that it has some sort of mechanism that can deliver electric shocks. Oh, and get this. There's a small hollow chamber inside of the chip. I've seen a few chips like this, but none nearly as advanced. The hollow chamber usually houses some sort of chemical agent, which can be released into the body from a remote location. He also has a great collection of scars. He enough scars to even make you jealous, he definitely has been through a lot. There are several signs of previous fights, broken bones, damaged muscles. You name it this guy has it. Well, you certainly chose a guy that has proven very difficult to decipher."

"What about his current condition?"

"Well, it was a long night. Two hours trying to get all those wounds fixed up. That shoulder wound was the worse. Broke the collarbone in two. I put it in a brace for now. The bite wounds were pretty severe too. The skin was practically shredded. I had to suture what I could, and then staple the rest of them shut. Other than that, the bullet graze on his side had to be resutured, and several new wounds had to be stitched and dressed. He certainly took a beating. I'm amazed that he was still standing when you found him, I honestly can't figure out how he was conscious and thinking rationally. Full recovery time, your probably looking at a week or two for the cuts, and a month and a half for the collarbone. He's also going to need a rabies treatment; he got bit by a guy who was half reptile. There will be hell to pay for that. Rabies treatments are the pits. I pity the guy personally."

"Sounds like fun. Moving on, I did a full back round search for anyone possessing his type of abilities. Absolutely nothing. Whoever this 'Chrone' guy is, he did a good job of covering his tracks. He definitely knows how to fight. Is he human?"

"Yes, and no. His DNA definitely is similar to that of a human. At one time, he was at least somewhat of a normal human being. But his chemical counts are way off, and his DNA structure is unlike anything I have ever seen before. The spikes on his arms, the ridges on his back, I have no idea what this guy is."

Cyborg's attention was diverted to the large monitor on the wall that displayed Chrone's vitals. Various beeping alarms pierced through the room as Cyborg got up, walking over to the wall as he looked at the information displayed.

"Neurokinetics, heart rate, and breathing rate have elevated. I think our young friend is waking up."

"Speaking of age, how old do you think he is?"

"Based on the scars, and amount of injuries he has obtained in the past, one would think he was at least in his twenties. I can tell you right now, that he's not even eighteen. My guess would probably be around sixteen, same as you."

"Wow."

"Well, I'm gonna go check on our patient. The last time he was left alone conscious, he managed to cause quite a havoc. I'm not really worried about it that much though. Steel restraints this time, not to mention alarms, reinforced and locked door. I don't think he'll be going anywhere anytime soon." He eyed Robin one more time as he turned, walking up to the set of automatic doors, where he entered a 10-digit code, and then entered the room beyond.

My thoughts were interrupted once again as I raised my head, looking up as a figure entered the room. I could make out the outline through the blue curtain, definitely Cyborg. I groaned. How many times did I have to go through this?

This guy just seemed a little too concerned about my person. I had no idea what I had done that made me deserve this kind of attention, but I definitely didn't like it. I hate attention; life in the shadows is so much easier. Attention always leads to trouble, the one thing I didn't need right now. No doubt, the military was still keeping tabs on me. Maybe it was the warning I had given them that made them leave me alone. I had slaughtered at least 30 people in my escape, and made it clear that I would do a lot more if anyone came after me. I just wanted to be left alone. Tired of being a pawn in a chess game between governments, I had run away, almost getting killed in the process. It hadn't been easy, and the military definitely had a grudge to settle. The best I could hope was that they would leave me alone, I had destroyed the mainframe in the complex, and hopefully the means they had to track me. I had tried to get the chip removed, and failing that, I had settled for getting it disabled. But, I doubted that would stop the military for long, they always had their ways of finding people. The best I could do was move around frequently and lay low, hoping that they wouldn't find me. This whole situation with the teen titans was hampering my plans, and I knew were going to cause me a world of trouble if I didn't get them sorted out soon enough.

Cyborg approached my bed, pulling back the curtain as he walked towards me, stopping at the side of my bed. He ignored me for a few minutes, just staring at the monitors above my bed. I finally cleared my throat, breaking the silence.

He seemed to have snapped back into reality as he picked flicked a switch on the wall, brightness replacing the dimmed lights that had previously bathed the infirmary. He still ignored me as he reached for a flashlight, pulling back my eyelid as I was assaulted by a painfully bright light. He turned off the flashlight, and then finally, began talking.

"Well, you're doing pretty well considering your condition…" He rambled on about the various injuries I had received, how they had been treated, and other useless information, much of which I had already figured out for myself.

"When can I get out of here?"

"Uh, probably at least a week in bed, we'll progress from there. You broke your collarbone, recovery isn't going to be quick-"

I cut him off. "I have an enhanced immune system and DNA, I heal more rapidly than most. It will take two weeks top."

He eyed me skeptically, and then moved on as if my comment hadn't even fazed him. "Like I was saying, you'll have to where that shoulder brace for a few weeks, the only reason I haven't casted it is because I need to remove the staples in your shoulder in a few days when the sutures have gotten a chance to set."

"Sure, we'll see. What about the restraints? Kinda uncomfortable is an understatement."

"Well, considering your last little adventure, we'll probably opt to leave those on."

"I groaned inwardly, but didn't complain, I didn't want to make my situation any worse than it already was.

"Can you at least do something about the brace? I have heightened senses, especially sensitive skin. I don't like anything against my flesh."

"Uh, well, that has to stay on, but I can numb your skin over so that you can't feel it. Is that ok?"

"I'll pass, just have to live with it for awhile I guess." I didn't like any sort of chemicals in my body; I had had enough of those in the last six years of my life. I liked to be ready for anything. Chemicals hindered abilities, and highlighted weakness. Something I definitely didn't want.

He looked at me puzzled, and then moved on once again. "Well, I guess that's all for now, just press the button on your finger if you need anything. The rest of team will probably come in too see you later. I can only hold them off for so long. They are all pretty curious."

I shrugged. "Whatever."

He looked at me, turned around, and grabbed something off the table. It was a syringe. "Uh, what's that?"

"Painkillers. The last dose you received is gonna wear off soon."

"I'll pass on those too. Never was one to like being drugged."

He looked at me again, and then put the syringe down. "Ok, I guess. If you say so."

He turned and walked out, leaving me to my own company once again.

Three days later, I was finally able to get out of bed, and walk around. I had managed to avoid most of the titans' questions, claiming pain, but somehow, it didn't seem real enough. After two days of avoiding their interrogations, they had pretty much left me alone. I had told them over and over that I wanted to leave, and then Robin came forward, saying that some very curious police officers wanted to talk to me about the fighting ring I had participated in. Basically, he made it clear; I could stay at the tower or go with the cops. Neither option really appealed to me, but I chose the tower over prison.

Cyborg had fitted me with some sort of bracelet with a tracking chip. Not something I was really crazy about, it made me nervous. I had had some pretty bad experiences with tracking chips, particularly the one I had implanted in my shoulder. This bracelet he assured me was made of Technic, an almost unbreakable metal alloy. So much for taking it off. Apparently, just to make sure I didn't try anything, I wasn't allowed within ten feet of any of the windows or exits. If I did, an alarm went off, and the Tower would be put on lockdown. They had definitely learned from the last adventure we had shared. It was at this point that I realized that I had exchanged one prison for another, maybe I would have been better going off to prison, I would have been spared having to spend time with these teen heroes. He had also given me strict orders not to put any stress on the shoulder. Not like I really had a choice, it was in a heavy brace that had locking mechanisms that only he could remove.

Conveniently for them, there always seemed to be another titan in the same room as me whenever I was doing anything. I had been given a guest bedroom for the time being, and my meager possessions had been returned, though it was obvious that it had been searched, nothing was where I had packed it.

I managed to take most of the stuff they could dish out. I didn't actually spend much time with them at all, but rather, stayed in my room most of the time. I tried to distance myself as much as possible from them; I wasn't really fond of any of them.

Occasionally, I ventured into the main room, whether to eat, or just observe what was going on. I would always sit in the far corner, and whittle with my knife. Whittling was a hobby I had picked up a long time back, even back at the military base, it passed the time. I rarely carved anything for myself, but instead did stuff for other people. I had only two pieces, and they stayed at the bottom of my backpack with my most important possessions. One of them was a piece I had made for Arc, my friend back at the military base. I never got the chance to give it to her, I planned on giving it to her as a parting gift before I left, but she was on an assignment when I left. I never got to say goodbye, but I had left her a note. I twirled the wolf shaped piece of wood between my fingers.

She had been my first and only love, but I learned quickly that I had made a mistake. Our superiors used us against each other, blackmail, or just to get kicks, nothing was too low for the guards or officers there…

"_Go on! Get to it!"_

_Arc and I stood facing each other in one of the training rooms. We had been tethered together with a steel rope around the ankles. The guards had found us together after curfew, and decided to get a little entertainment out of our presence. So, they had tied us together, and told us to fight. They had placed bets, and then told us to get to it. I flat out refused to move. One of them pulled out their remote, and pressed the button, sending a signal to the chip in my shoulder, which in turn sent an electric shock through my body. They had to shock me five times until I couldn't stand the pain anymore, and submitted._

_Arc stood facing me, knife in hand. First blood that was what they said. But we both knew better, we would fight until they were finished getting their kicks, growing bored, and would then throw us back in our cells._

_I raised my knife in hand, and lunged at her. I held back, I always did with Arc. I loved her, and would never hurt her, I couldn't. She parried effortlessly. I let her pin me to the ground, where she then nicked me across the face._

_We both hopped to our feet, eying the guards. Drunkly, they stared at us through hazy eyes, and laughed, we both received electric jolts. I cringed and let out a muted cry. _

_The fighting went on for another half hour. I could see that Arc was getting tired; she wouldn't be able to hold out for much more. I had three cuts on my face, several nicks on my nicks, chest and shoulder. Blood flowed freely. I lunged at her again, this time pinning her to the ground as I whispered into her ear. She looked up at me, shaking her head in shock at what I had just suggested. _

_I let her throw me backwards, where she rose to her feet, tears streaming down her face. She came at me slowly as I lay on the ground, knowing what was coming. I saw the glint of the blood stained knife, and the next thing I knew, it was buried to the hilt in my shoulder. I cried out, wildfires of pain racing through my entire body as the love of my life stood above me, tears cascading from her eyes, as blood flowed from my wound._

_The guards rose from where they had pulled chairs up against the wall. Laughing, grunting, they came over. Finally, their lust for blood satisfied. We were untethered; Arc was roughly ushered out of the room as she took one more glimpse at me, regret burning in her eyes. I lay on the ground, rolling back and forth in pain, scrunched into a fetal position. The guards glared down at me, one of them yelled. "Get up! Now!"_

_I tried, but my legs gave out on me. I was rewarded with a kick to my gut as the guards looked back and forth at one another._

"_What now?"_

"_I ain't touchin' him, I don't want that brat's blood on my uniform."_

_Most of them nodded in agreement._

"_I guess we can just leave him, someone will come looking for him eventually." One of them snickered._

_They filed out of the room, leaving me in a pool of my own blood. I was twelve years old…_

I was jerked back to present as the wooden wolf slipped from my fingers, falling to the ground. I bent over, picking it up from the ground, eying it over for damage, as I was pulled back in time once again.

"_Chrone? Hey Chrone!" Arc waved a hand in front of my face._

_I shook my head, I had zoned out there for a minute._

"_What do you think about all the time? I can see it on your face all the time. Half the time you aren't really paying attention during drills and exercises. What do you think about? What were you just thinking?"_

_I smiled at her, looked into her curious eyes. I thought about how to respond, and decided to tell her the truth._

"_I think about how we are always manipulated by the government, used like pawns in a chess game until something gives out, or we are killed. I ask myself why, of all the possible fates, why did we end up here? I wonder why the government thinks we are super heroes, and tools at the same time. We're what, fourteen? We're kids, and yet, we have seen more in the last four years than most people will face in their lifetime."_

"_I often imagine the same things. The important thing, is to ignore those thoughts, and think about the good things in life-"_

"_What good things? We live in a cage, where the government holds the keys to the door, and the only way to get out of our cage, even for a short while, is to do their bidding across the world. As soon as we have done what they want, we are thrown back into that dark abyss, until the next time we are called upon to do their bidding."_

"_What about us? We have each other. I agree, our lives are full of darkness, hate, and destruction. And yet, in that darkness, we have managed to find each other. Apart, we are nothing, together, we are a beacon of light in the darkness."_

_I stared into her eyes for a moment, and in those deep orange pools, I realized, I had found a refuge from the world that I had so harshly been thrust into. For the first time in a long while, I allowed myself to smile. She beamed back at me. _

_She lay back on the ground, cushioning her head with her arms as she looked up into the starry sky above. I lay down next to her. We just lay there for a while, together, under an endless sky above._

"_Do you know what I sometimes imagine myself as?"_

"_What?"_

"_Don't laugh. I know that when most people imagine themselves being an animal, they say a bird, able to break free from the earth, and soar above. I imagine myself as a wolf."_

_I allowed myself a small chuckle. She rolled onto her side, glaring at me playfully. _

"_You promised not to laugh!"_

"_Sorry, I couldn't help myself." _

"_I don't know why, but a wolf always seemed like an amazing creature to me. Even though born a predator, forced to hunt and kill to survive, it finds refuge and peace among its den members, its family. At the end of the day, a wolf can go back to its den, and in the midst of its pack, it manages to find some inner peace. That's what you are to me, family, and much, much more at the same time. I come home after a mission, and being with you washes away the blood and the pain. For a short while, I feel alive again."_

_I looked at her, and into those deep pools of orange once again. They burned with a passion I knew was mirrored on my face as well. I was in love that was the only word to describe it. _

"_Arc. You are such an amazing person, and you do so much for me without even realizing it. As much as I tried to wall myself off from the world, you managed to find your way through the cracks, through the facade, and into my heart. You are my solid foundation, an amazing person. You are my sole link to the world, and what's left of my humanity. I hate what I have become, an empty void, a ghost. Wandering though life with no purpose, simply doing as I am told. You brought me to life again Arc, you are filling that void. You keep me from falling deeper into my void of self-consumption. You are, you're my life. And I love you; I always have, and always will." _

_She smiled at me, I smiled at her, and before I knew what was happening, we were on our knees, facing each other. I leaned in, running my hand across her cheek as our lips brushed, just for a moment, but it was heaven. In those few seconds, a flame inside of me I thought extinguished long ago was rekindled. For the first time since training had begun those four years ago, I felt alive, truly alive. I wanted to freeze that moment forever, for in that one moment, I felt like I had a soul, like the sins of my past had finally been washed away._

_We backed apart, I blushed. That had been my first kiss, oh, how I longed to lock her against my chest, and hold her close. I didn't want to ever lose her; I didn't think I could ever stand losing her, the love of my life. _

_Shouts came from below someone had spotted us. She looked at me longingly, I returned the gaze. Her shoulders dropped as we both realized that our perfect moment had come to an end, for it was time to return to our barracks, before anyone managed to find their way up there. She looked at me one last time, and then, turning around, leapt from where she was crouched, down onto the fire escape, and just like that, she was gone into the darkness of the night. The icy wall that separated me from the rest of the world sealed the cracks as my face returned to a hard gaze, and just as she had left, I was pulled back into my icy abyss, my emotionless void…_

My eyes opened once again as I felt a solitary tear slide down my cheek. Arc had been the one person that I had loved, the one person that I had opened myself up to. After I had escaped, I had made my way as far as I could. I found myself two hundred miles away in California before I had stopped running.

In my letter, I had promised her that I would return, that I would come back for her. I knew there was no way we could escape at the same time. After an incident where we had been caught together, kissing, we had been kept apart, permanently for the most part. Our schedules were always orchestrated so that one of us was always away on a mission. The night I had kissed her was the last time I ever saw her in person. After that, the best we had been able to do was leave each other letters. I promised that I would come back for her, and oh god how I tried. I tried everything I could think of. By the time I managed to get back to the facility with adequate resources, she was gone; the files said that she had gone missing on one of her missions in Prague. I went to Prague twice, trying to find her, yet returned both times empty handed, more distressed than before.

It was after that that I had sealed myself off from the world completely. Oh god how it had hurt when Arc was ripped so forcefully from my life. My last thread of hope had been cut, and I found myself alone in the darkness once again, hopeless, no more than a shadow.

From there, I had begun traveling, keeping the military far enough behind that I wouldn't get captured again. From what I had last heard, the operation had been shut down soon after I had left, not even a month later. Arc was one given one last mission, and that was when she had disappeared.

The remaining fifteen warriors that they had spawned so long ago were no longer of any value to the government. The majority were sold to private outfitters, the rich, whomever wanted them. I tried to keep tabs on the rest of my kin, but one by one, they disappeared. Last I heard, there were three of us left, all hiding across the world. The military hunted us relentlessly. One, we had insulted them just by escaping. Secondly, the market for enhanced soldiers was quite good. I had heard of my comrades in arms going for much as one hundred million a piece. We were few of a kind. There were no others like us in the world, and to date, we are the only generation old enough to fight, to do the dirty work of whomever we have the misfortune of falling in with.

I had given up on finding any of my kin. Not only would it endanger both parties, there was no point. No doubt, each of them would have developed their own lifestyle. I had gone for a nomadic life personally, it fit my bill quite nicely. I always seemed to be able to stay ahead of the past I worked so hard to leave behind each time I ran.

I lifted the wooden wolf up to eye level, as I looked it over one last time before tucking it away in the bottom of my pack once again. It was I had left of Arc, and no matter how many times I had tried to get rid the wooden artifact, I always convinced myself it was best to keep it. Just in case. I sat on the edge of my bed as I put the rest of my meager possessions in the closet. All together, I didn't have a lot. To my name, I had my three suits, my kit for taking care of my spikes, two pairs of sheaths, two knifes. One was a hunting knife with a twelve-inch blade, the other a carving knife for whittling. I had the two wood figurines, a set of street clothes, and a leather notebook where I occasionally wrote down my thoughts, whenever something important happened. I also had roughly sixty thousand dollars in the bank. Whenever I came to a new city, I opened a new account, put the money away, making withdrawals only when I needed it. I had never stolen, well, ok, there were a few times, but it had been justified. Other than that, it was all money I had earned doing odd jobs. Underground fight rings were a favorite, they gave me a chance to do one of the things I did best, and get paid doing it. I could do an assortment of other things. Occasionally, I picked up a mercenary job here or there, but I tried not to break the law in the process, most of the time. I also had a few odd tools. A flashlight, a lock-pick set, and a few other knick-knacks.

I pulled one of the tools out of a hidden pouch in the bottom of my bag. It was an electronic shorter, able to disrupt electric signals. It was currently past eleven at night. Most everyone was in bed, leaving me the tower to myself. I took the electronic shorter to my brace, quickly unlocking the clasps holding my brace on. I gently slid it off, and slowly began massaging my stiff shoulder. Once it was adequately loosened up, I moved on to doing a variety of stretches. For the most part, it was healed. It probably was still weak, and for that reason I wouldn't stress it too much, at least not tonight. There was more to worry about. I took a moment to take a look at my shoulder. It had been a week now, and just as I had told Cyborg, the cuts were gone, and the sutures and staples had been removed long ago. Only my collarbone was left to heal, and it was pretty much in good condition. I decided that it would probably be best to leave my tracking bracelet in the room.

I wouldn't try to leave the building, not yet. There was a good chance that Cyborg had planted bugs, at the very least, he would have other security measures. I wasn't that stupid. I placed the bracelet on my bed, and threw on one of my other suits, the one that had separate bottom and top parts. I wore only the pants. I planned on quite a workout that night. I hadn't had a chance to do a proper workout since I had come to the Tower. I was in desperate need for a good workout session. I silently slipped out of my room, grapping my spike sheaths and my newly emptied backpack off the bed on the way out. I knew where the gym was, heck, I had visited all of the rooms in the Tower that weren't locked, the gym had been one of those.

I made my way to the west wing of the "T." Arriving at the door, I walked in, the electronic doors granting me access. I eyed the different machinery. There was practically every sort of workout equipment I could have imagined. I hit the treadmill first for a warm-up. Ten minutes on the treadmill, and I had worked my up to a steady sprint as I pulled the key out, the treadmill slowing to a halt as I hopped off. I walked over to the nearest wall, grabbing a jump rope. Jump roping was a great way to warm up the upper body, especially with a sore shoulder. Twenty minutes jump roping, and I knew that I was ready for the real fun to begin.

I hit the bench press first. Starting with Robin's set, as I maxed it out at two hundred pounds, I decided to move in to Cyborg's equipment. His weights started at one hundred and fifty pounds. I made it to three hundred pounds before I started to feel the strain. I knew it was time to move on at that point my shoulder was still weak. Increased strength gave me an advantage, in peak condition, I could carry five hundred pounds comfortably, seven fifty was tops. Any more and I would most likely collapse. I knew that there was a track up on the roof in a few days I would get up there, this was enough for now. I then proceeded into the training room itself. I headed over to the console on the wall, and keyed it in at level eight, a sufficient warm-up. Fifteen levels in all. All five of the titans together fought at level fifteen. Individually, the most I had seen anyone do was level twelve, and that of course had been Robin.

I materialized my spikes, as the light on the wall turned from red to green. Three androids dropped to the floor from a hole in the ceiling. All were vaguely humanoid in shape. The first charged, stun gun fully animated as it swung down at me with a metal arm. I blocked with my spike, pushing it backwards. Driving forwards, I managed to strike one of its arms, but it didn't show any damage.

The robot turned back towards me, the two behind me took no time in joining the fight. Three against one, this was going to be a piece of cake for me. I jumped into the air, doing a bicycle kick as I struck one of the robots in the air. The other two were upon me as soon as I landed. They charged, I parried with little effort. The one I had knocked to the ground decided to get cute as it fired off a shot at me. I dodged in between fighting off the other two, the laser bounced off the metallic surface of the robot in front of me, and ricocheted back at me, hitting me square in the chest.

It stung sure, but I didn't even wince. It was always best not to show fear. A slight burn mark appeared on my shoulder as I moved forward. I drove my spike through the metallic skull of the closest android, ironically the one that had fired off the shot.

I backed up as the two androids advanced, their motion sensors locking on to me as the first one charged. I dodged the attack, driving a spike through its back as it passed. Two down, one left.

I took the initiative on this one, I ran forwards, parrying my adversary's attack with a metallic fist as I hit it square in the chest. At the last moment, it had managed to wretch its body to the side, catching the blunt side of my built in weapons. I crouched low as it came forward. As soon as it was within range, I charged at it, upper cutting its jaw. The attack seemed to have done little damage. Before I could attack again, it pulled out its laser, firing three shots. Two caught me in the shoulders, the third one hit where my head had been not a second ago. It charged forwards, raising a metallic foot into the air as it caught me in the lower abdomen, sending me sprawling backwards. I clutched my stomach as I quickly hopped to my feet, and waited for the attack I knew would come.

Sure enough, not a second later, the robot was upon me, pinning me to the ground. I kicked at the ground with all of my strength, throwing the robot off guard as I rolled over on top of it, pinning it firmly to the ground. I raised a spiked arm into the air, as I drove it right through the center of its face, sparks flying in all direction as I backed off of it. It twitched a few times, then the red lights in its eyes went dark as it lost power.

I rose to my feet, wincing. That last attack had taken a lot out of me. My shoulder was throbbing; I knew I wasn't going to be able to do any more training with the androids. I shrugged, turning around as I strode out of that room, and back into the gym.

I grabbed my backpack, walking over to the weight rack. I put five twenty-pound weights into the bag as I swung it over my back, my shoulder rippling with pain. I buckled the strap across my chest as I began with a slow jog around the perimeter of the gym, where the floor was made of a track-like material, rubber bits. I did a five lap slow jog, and then gradually accelerated my pace until I was in a flat out sprint. I changed my pace every so often. I would sprint a mile, jog half a mile, sprint a mile, and so on, until I had been running for about an hour and a half.

The shoulder straps burned against my flesh. My skin was drenched with salty sweat, as it beaded on my body, and ran down my face, arms, and chest. I slowed to a walk, as I did a three-mile cool down.

I walked over to the weight rack, unloading the ones I had borrowed. I stretched my sore limbs, as I allowed a small smile to crease my face. In a world where very little ever made me happy anymore, workouts were always one thing I could look forward to. Not only could I do it alone, but also it made me feel relaxed, and almost alive, almost.

Arc was the only one who had truly made me whole, or at least partially whole. Fighting had become one of my obsessions. I could forget about the world, clear my mind, and merge into one my mind and my motions. It was like poetry, rhythmic and awe-inspiring.

Two Weeks Later

At this point, I had fully recovered, the gaping wounds scarred over, my collarbone finally healed. I didn't actually do much training with the titans, but I always watched. I watched them do the obstacle course, train in the gym, and spar with each other.

Spending so much time observing, I was bound to notice a few things. Beast boy, he was the joker in the group, the one who kept things going upbeat. Starfire, so innocent and pure, she was the definition of innocence, unscathed by the brutal world, she was truly amazing. Cyborg, the technical guy, was a solid foundation. Most of the time, he offered his input, and helped out where he could. Robin, a leader. He was the binding that held the team together. And then, there was Raven. I'm not afraid to say that she scared me sometimes. You could see a sense of foreboding element to her. So secretive and dark, I really didn't find out all that much about her. At the same time, she was the one person that I could probably level with, even relate too. Like me, she was so reclusive, though she separated herself from the world for different reasons, together we rotted in our own self-created hells.

On my seventeenth day in the tower, I came to realization. These people represented everything that I had ever wanted in life, and slowly, I was being drawn into their web. Already, I found myself occasionally laughing at their jokes, smiling with them, and just enjoying their company. For the first time since losing Arc, I felt that perhaps, I could find some self-peace, and haven.

Thus far, I had yet to show any of the titans any of my skills. I knew that they had an idea as to what I could do, but I doubted they grasped the true understanding of my abilities. I had always opted to sleep some during the day, and then do my own workout at night, under the cover of darkness. Once or twice, I even found myself trailing them to the scene of a crime, and watching them battle for justice. I had done so much evil in my life, seen so much blood and darkness, perhaps it was time to angle my life in a more meaningful direction.

I knew that I would never be accepted among them, that was just a part of life. But perhaps, I could find some self-reconciliation, inner peace for all the wrong doings I had done in the past. It was clear in my mind that my heart and mind had permanently been darkened, and stained with the blood of others who had suffered at my own hands. I wouldn't do this completely for me. I viewed myself as a tool to be wielded for the greater good whenever it was possible. I tried to do the right thing, and as long as I chose my own battles, and chose how to use my abilities, I would be happy.

I didn't really care all that much about myself, others always came first. I was a resource to be depleted until I had run dry. To me, death was inevitable. I had seen enough death in my short existence to know that when it came, I would accept it willingly. Did I believe in the afterlife like most people, no. I had seen enough innocent blood in my days to truly believe that it had been willed by a greater being. Plus, I really, really didn't like the idea of someone else controlling me.

I thought about this as I slipped into a fresh uniform, grabbed my sheaths, and headed down to the gym to hopefully train with the titans for the first time. It was eight o'clock. The titans always started training at nine; I wanted to be warmed up by the time they came down.

I began my warm-up run, this time around the outside of the gym. Ten minutes later, I fell into the same, shortened version of the routine that I had done since the very first night I had hit the gym. Weights, more weights, and then I began running instead of battling the androids; I wanted to save that for later. I was into my fifth mile as the door retracted, and the five titans sauntered in.

I ignored them for the time being, I never stopped a drill mid-way unless it was absolutely necessary.

Eying me, they all pulled to a halt. I received many a look of astonishment. This was the first time they had seen me down here, and I had a pretty good inkling that they didn't know about my night sessions. I eyed them for a moment, and then continued my run.

They looked at me for a few moments, watching me run before they all moved off in their separate directions. Beastboy and Starfire hit the treadmills, Raven headed off into her own corner to hone her dark abilities, Cyborg hit the weights, and Robin, he soon was jogging on the outer rim, just as I was.

He kept his distance, I kept mine, and for the remainder of my run, we both avoided each other. I did a one-mile cool down and then headed over to towards the wall, grabbing a towel off the shelf as I wiped my sweat drenched face. I took a chug from a water bottle that I had brought with me.

I paused for a moment, noticing that I once again had the attention of the titans, all but Raven that is, she was meditating in the corner, completely oblivious to what was going on. I looked at each one of them, and then without a word, headed over to the back training room to practice.

I had been at this all week, and little known to any of the members, I was not battling at level twelve, same as Robin. I entered the room, walking over to the console on the wall as I set it for level twelve, and took my position at the center of the room, wincing as the ridges protruded from my back. I materialized my spikes at the same time, just as the red light turned green.

The hard thing about this training program was that it was random, and therefore always different scenarios. This time, three floating androids dropped from the ceiling, two laser guns came out of the wall, and a new set of androids came out of an opening in the wall.

They paused for a moment; I took the time to look at the new type of android. It was roughly shaped like a metallic wolf, four legs, a dog-shaped head, sharp teeth, and metal claws on all four feet.

This was going to be fun. All of the androids commenced at once, for the time being, the laser cannons remained dormant. The first flying android came at me, arms balled into two fists as it came at me. I ducked, grabbing it from beneath as it flew overhead. I thrust it backwards, it collided head on with one of the wolf androids. The flying android lay on the ground for the moment, while a wolf android, and a flying android jumped towards me at the same time.

I diverted my actions towards the wolf. It was upon me, teeth bearing towards my throat, claws pinning me against the ground. I took one of my spikes, driving it through the beast's chest, and still, it attacked. I tried to pull out my spike, to find that it was stuck. Just what I needed. I tried futily to pull my spike out to no avail. I pressed my free arm against the beast's neck, preventing him from reaching mine. I kicked at the metal chest of the android, and was surprised when my spike finally came free, pulling with it the metal plating of the animal's chest. I kicked my feet against its now exposed chest as it went reeling backwards. Meanwhile, the two flying androids left had been hovering overhead, looking for an opening. One had managed to get a shot off, but the metal wolf had deflected it. I hopped to my feet, swinging my heavy plated spike against the head of one of the androids as it flew backwards against the wall, leaving an indentation as it slid to the ground, sensor light going dark.

I didn't have much time to celebrate as the final flying android moved in. It pulled something off its back, a blue metal rod. Nice. It flew at me; stick in one hand, the other balled into a fist as it came barreling towards me. I was too slow to dodge as it flung me against the wall, then, following after me, hit me square in the back as I lay on the ground. I felt electricity jolt through my body, every fiber of my being on fire.

I screamed out, feeling the suit melt beneath the electrified rod, and the fiery energy made contact with my flesh, burning me. I rolled over, the pain stopping as I hopped to my feet once again, and swung my plated spike against the rod, splitting it in two. I smiled, so much for that method.

My jaw dropped, the robot now had two rods, half the size, but double the jolt. Blue tendrils of light danced off each pint-sized rod as it came at me again, both rods flailing. I parried the first rod; only to have a second hit me in my side as I raised my arm in defense. I swung wildly at the android in front of me, feeling my metal plated spike make contact with the android, sending flying backwards.

Of the two wolf-like androids that had been waiting on the sideline, waiting for their turn to pummel me, one darted in; head lowered as it barreled into me like a train, sending me flying backwards against the wall.

I used the wall to balance as the android charged in again, this time rising up on its hind legs as it dug its two front feet into my back, pinning me firmly against the observation window in the wall. I looked through it for a moment. It seemed that I had attracted an audience, every member, including Raven, was watching my battle.

I didn't have long to dwell on it, the flying android came in, pummeling me again and again, one strike after the next. I could feel the wolf's claws digging into my back, drawing blood as the second android shocked me into submission with each strike.

I saw the titans' reactions through the glass, all of them but Raven and Robin winced as I took the abuse.

I jumped upwards, throwing the wolf android off balance as I flipped backwards in the air, landing behind the flying android, which didn't have time to react. I took my free spike, and drove completely through its chest, sparks flying in all directions.

Its thrusters suddenly gave out as it clattered to the ground, my arm going with it as I was pulled downwards with it, my spike once again caught. I didn't have time to think, I simply twisted my arm, breaking the spike as I turned to face my new adversaries.

The plasma cannons went off, blue darts of light striking me from both sides of the rooms. I ignored the pain as I moved forward, entering hyper-mode as I drove one of the wolves back against the wall.

The other wolf was soon upon me, pinning me to the ground for the third time. Again, I kicked upwards, and this time drove my remaining plated spike through its exposed wired chest. Its sensors went black as it fell upon me. I scooted out from beneath it, pulling my spike out of its chest as I turned to face the last remaining android.

I rematerialized my missing my spike, raising my plated one into the air as I used it as a shield, rapidly moving it around to deflect the various shots from the cannons. A few made it by, but it definitely helped. I entered hyper-mode, racing over to the wall, wolf hot on my tail. I drove a spike through the first cannon, as it died out, and made my way to do the same to the other. The wolf didn't give me the time to do so as it came at me, chasing me back towards the wall as it came pummeling towards me.

In a last ditch effort; I turned to face it, dropping towards the ground. As it came towards me, I dodged, grabbed it from the side, and threw it towards the nearest wall. I cringed as it went through the observation window; Raven shielded all of them from the splay of glass as they looked at me shocked.

I didn't have time to worry about that. I entered hyper-mode, the remaining cannon still firing as I held my makeshift shield behind me, protecting my exposed and already burned back.

I vaulted through the broken window; all of the titans flattened themselves against the wall as I commenced the battle once again. I jumped into the air, landing on the wolf's back as it went mad, twisting in every direction. It headed back towards the training room, jumping through the window as it raced against the wall, de-ja-vu, I knew what was happening as it rammed my body against the wall; Reptan had tried the same method. I slipped off its back; it fell to the ground from the shock of running head on into the wall. I charged towards it, taking my plated spike, driving it through its skull as it fell to the ground.

I was immediately reminded of the remaining cannon as it fired off at me. Annoyed, I broke off my plated spike, turned around. I grabbed my knife from my thigh sheath as I threw it at the wall. It hit the cannon head on, shattering the lens as it plunged deep into the circuitry, wobbling back and forth.

I stood in the center of the room, out of breath, drenched in sweat as I eyed the damage. All of the robots and cannons were out for the count. I was satisfied; I had wondered if I would make it through that round, it was the hardest one I had been through yet.

I finally turned around, facing the gaze of the astonished titans.

"Dude, that was AMAZING! How did you do that?" Beast boy looked at me in awe.

"Uh, practice I guess?"

"That was a most amazing display of fighting abilities, may I inquire as to where you learned them?"

"Uh, I'd rather not talk about that."

Cyborg walked into the room, kneeling next to one of the androids that had a spike sticking out of it. He pried the spike loose as sparks flew once again. "Oh man, look what you did to my babies! They took me months to get into working condition. They're gonna take forever to fix!"

Robin walked into the training room, glass crunching beneath his feet as he walked over to where I stood. He looked down at my one remaining spike. "Can I see it?"

"Sure, I guess?" I held up my arm, allowing him to run a gloved hand over my spikes.

"Nice."

"Thanks."

"You are a good fighter. We'll have to spar sometime. I noticed that the spike I had left was cracked down the center, and besides, I was missing the other one. I broke it over my knee as I rematerialized a new pair, causing all the titans except for Raven to flinch.

"How do you do that?" Robin asked as he bent over, picking up the spike I had just broken off.

"I don't really understand it all. When I was younger, I underwent…some changes. I got some kind of enzyme in my body now that allows me to rematerialize them at will. I can make up to about ten pairs before I exhaust my resources."

"That's cool, so what else can you do?"

By now, the ridges on my back had retracted. I closed my eyes for a moment, willing them to come back out, wincing as they broke through my skin. I turned around so that my back was facing towards Robin.

"I got these too."

"What do they do?"

"Uh, not much, mainly protect my back and spine. They come in handy every once in awhile. They come out when I get excited, or when I will them to come out."

"That's sweet dude!" Beast boy came over, running his hand over my ridges as I flinched a little. People touching me made me nervous. He took his hand away, the tip of his glove red.

"Is this _blood_?"

"Uh, yeah." I shrugged. "They break through the skin, but the skin quickly grows back around them. They only hurt when they come out for a moment.

"On second thoughts, that's kinda disgusting." He said, wiping the blood off on his uniform.

I allowed myself a small smile. God, when was the last time I had smiled, for anything? For the first time in a long time, I was almost happy.

"Anything else?" Robin asked, still eying my spikes.

I entered hyper-mode for a moment, pulling to a halt behind him, as he looked around bewildered.

"I can do short bursts of speed."

He turned around to face me. I swear he almost fell over on his butt I scared him so much. The rest of the team, even Raven, either smiled or laughed.

"Now that's cool." Cyborg said, walking towards me to join the rest of the titans who had gathered around me.

"I also have heightened senses. Not that much above average, but it does the trick. I can hear almost as well as a dog, can see twice as far as a normal human. The most heightened sense is touch. That's why I have this suit. It keeps a thin layer of air between my body and the suit itself. It can get kinda annoying after awhile. I always where this suit, even underneath regular clothes. The suit comes in handy, except for large gashes, it can seal itself."

"That's neat. Where does the technology come from? I haven't ever heard of anything like that."

"Uh, I have a friend back on the west coast. He makes them for me."

"That's neat, you'll have to get me in touch with him sometime." Robin said.

"Sure, I guess."

I felt the hairs on the back of my neck. I whipped my head around, to see Raven staring at me again, her steel gaze as cold as always. It sent shivers down my ridged spine.

I looked back towards Robin and the rest of the titans.

"Well guys, I think we should train some more. Chrone, it would be nice if you could stay down here and train with us. You obviously have some skill, but there's always room for improvement-"

"Dude! Some skill? He just beat level twelve single handedly! He's easily as good as you."

Robin's cheeks flushed. He was definitely competitive. "We'll see about that some other time. For now, lets just get back to training."

The titans headed off into other parts of the training room. Robin remained behind with me. I eyed the broken window. "I'll pay for that, sorry about the window."

"It's fine, we have funds for this sort of thing."

I shrugged. "Thanks. I owe ya one."

"It's fine. Go ahead and get back to whatever you were doing I guess. Take it easy though, I doubt your shoulder's up to one hundred percent yet."

He walked away, out of the training room as he headed over to a punching bag near the wall, and began beating the crap out of it.

I stood there alone for a minute, just watching each of the titans. I felt the familiar sensation as I looked to the left of the gym. Raven sat Indian style, levitating, eyes firmly fixed on me. I swear that I saw disgust burning in her eyes. I had yet to figure out why she hated me so much.

I shrugged off her gaze as I exited the training room, the cleanup androids dragging away the limp bodies of the robots I had beat the pulp out of. Suddenly, I remembered that I had forgotten my knife. Didn't want to lose that. I jogged back into the room, pulling my knife out of the cannon as I headed back out into the main room.

I walked over to the wall, grabbing a drink before heading back over to the weight set. I walked past Robin's set, and onto Cyborg's. He looked at me, raising an eyebrow on his human half.

"There's no way you could handle those weights little man. Stick to the smaller set." He chuckled.

I ignored him, and set the weights to five hundred pounds as I laid down on the lifting bench, grabbed the bar, and began lifting.

I allowed myself a small chuckle once again as I saw Cyborg's jaw drop. The other titans had stopped what they were doing once again. Ok, so maybe I was showing off a little bit. Hey, I was a guy, we all gotta get our kicks once in awhile.

"Guess I forgot to mention, I can lift up to seven hundred and fifty pounds. Enhanced strength comes in handy once in awhile too."

They watched me for a moment, and then turned back to what they were doing, busying themselves in one-way or another. I trained for another half hour before heading back upstairs. I sawed my spikes off, filed them down, and took a shower, changing into a fresh uniform. For the remainder of the day, I didn't see much of the titans. I didn't know where they went either. They weren't in the main room, weren't in the kitchen, weren't on the obstacle course outside, weren't anywhere that I could find them.

Though it made me a little unsettled, I didn't really mind. I busied myself whittling. I didn't really have any idea of what I was whittling. I just let my hands do all the work as I let my mind wander back over all of the events that had happened to me in the last month. I had come a long way, and for the first time, I was smiling, laughing, and enjoying life.

I was drawn back to the world as I looked at my clock. It was 6:00, time for dinner. I put my piece of wood away, sliding my knife into its sheath as I headed downstairs.

I walked into the main room, raising an eyebrow as I saw that all of the titans were on the couch. After not having been able to find them all day, I did wonder what they had been up to.

They all turned around to face me from where all but Robin sat on the couch. He walked over to me.

"Chrone, we wanted to ask you a question."

"What?"

"Over the last few weeks, you have proven yourself to have the skill and mind set to be a hero. You have the heart and dedication. And on the behalf of the Teen Titans, I would like you to join our ranks."

I looked at him amazed. I hadn't seen this one coming. Sure, occasionally we had held a conversation, but for the most part, I had staying withdrawn. I looked at him for a few minutes in amazement.

"Uh, well?"

I thought about my options. I thought about all of the wanderings I had done, all the time I had spent running away. Perhaps it was time to forge a new beginning, at least temporarily.

"I…I would love to"

A grin creased Robin's face, as well as all of the other members of the team except for Raven. Her face was stone solid as usual. She didn't seem overly happy about it.

Cyborg and Beastboy hopped off the couch, came over, and patted me on the back. "Welcome to the team dude!"

"Thanks. I guess?" I didn't really know what to say.

Starfire flew off of the couch, landing besides Robin. "We are most jubilant in your decision to join our team! We must celebrate with the traditional song of the Bla't'nog!"

The teen titans eyes opened wide. "Uh, that's ok star, I'm sure we'll have time for that later."

Robin walked forwards, placing something in my hand as I looked down at it. A personal communicator, with a design of two crossed spikes on the front sat in my palm.

"Thank you. You really have no idea what this means to me."

"Lets get to the food man! I'm starving! Who's up for steak?"

"No way man, we're having tofu…"

The rest of the argument was drowned out by my own thoughts. I felt the flame that had died so long ago in my soul flicker to life, bringing the first light into my dark cavern that I had sealed myself into so long ago.

The rest of the evening blurred by. There was tofu, and steak. I went for the steak for dinner. After that, we watched movies, played videogames, in which I got my ass served to me on a silver platter. My gaming skills could definitely use some work. The titans shared favorite stories, and such. I didn't really pay attention much, because for the first time, I was home. Truly home.

At the end of the evening, I headed back to my room, looking over at Raven one last time. She had remained silent throughout the dinner and the activities that followed. Most of the time, she spent staring directly at me. What I saw in her face frightened me. Contempt and malice burned in her eyes as she glared at me one last time as I headed out of the room. Her look haunted me in the back of my mind. The look in her eyes never left me.


	3. Chapter 3

Three Months Later

_…She viewed the world through another's eyes. She entered a room, turned the corner, and looked down. A red liquid coated the bottom of her shoes. She subconsciously crouched to the ground, dipping three fingers into the liquid, and holding them before the light as she examined it. Blood. She wiped her hand on the wall, leaving three lines of still warm blood._

She rose to her feet once again, turning around the corner. A child, no older than fourteen years old lay on the ground, clutching his chest as he breathed deeply. He looked up at her, and pulled his hands away from his chest for a moment, revealing a deep stab wound. She slowly walked over to him, yet no worry crossed her mind. She bent down over the child, who eyed her with pleading eyes. She looked into his eyes once, and then, raising an arm, she drove a spike through his chest.

He let out a scream of pain, howling and rolling back and forth. His body stopped convulsing as it went still, eyes rolling back in his head.  
She rose to her feet, what thoughts entered her mind scared her more than anything she had ever experienced. There had been no remorse, just an acceptance, as she had plunged the spike through the dying child's chest. She was in the cold mind of a murderer.  
She walked past a broken window, and for just a second, she caught the reflection. Deep, cold eyes stared back at her, and the person in the mirror sent chills through every essence of her being. For in the mirror, the dead eyes of Chrone stared back at her…

Raven shot upwards with a start. She whipped back the sheets as she got out of her bed, pacing back and forth as she wiped a hand over her sweaty brow. That dream had plagued her since the first night Chrone had spent in the tower, and she now experienced it regularly.

At first she tried to dismiss it. No way could Chrone be that cold of a killer. But as the days and weeks trickled by, she realized the truth. The dream had been too real, to detailed to be a figment of her imagination.

Chrone was a killer. A cold-blooded killer. Plain and simple. Chills racked her body as she rose into the air, settling into her meditative position. She slowly calmed herself down to the point where she was breathing at a normal rate.

She had tried to confront Robin, she was rarely wrong about things like these. And yet, he hadn't believed her. He had said he couldn't base kicking Chrone out of the teen titans on one lousy dream. She knew he would see things differently if he had experienced the dream for himself. It was so real, so scary that someone could kill that quickly with no regret.

The rest of the group had agreed with Robin, they all loved him. Of course, they had never seen anything of his other side, a darker side of him that he kept hidden from them. She hugged herself with her arms as she tried to rid her mind of that god-awful dream.

She was interrupted as she heard a crashing noise behind her. She whipped her head around, balling energy around her fist, ready to face the intruder. She looked at the broken window before her, only to see nothing there. She spun around in a circle. But she was a second too late.  
A black clad figure charged in at her, a hood drawn over his head shielded his face. He drove a fist into her fist as she fell to the ground. At a distance, no one could beat Raven, but her one on one combat wasn't so great. He drove a foot into her gut as the darkness rimmed the edge of her vision.  
She was vaguely aware of being hoisted over the intruder's shoulder as he turned around, and leapt through the window, her in tow.

I sat in my room, whittling away when something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. Something black dove past my window. I entered hyper-mode, racing over to the window as I looked beyond.

I saw a black form falling, with Raven thrown over his shoulder.

I didn't take the time to think, I crashed through the window, and dove after the figure below. I literally dove; I thinned my body as much as possible as my fall increased in speed. I eyed the black figure below me. The next thing I knew, I had collided on him head on. I grabbed him by the shoulders, making sure that Raven wouldn't fall off in the process. If necessary, I was prepared to use his body as a cushion.

Much to my surprise, about twenty feet from the ground, black wings sprouted out from the figure, and we glided across the waters and towards the mainland. I felt the wings; they were some sort of energy, the same as Raven's. He looked back at me a few times, but made no attempt to shake me off. I was pretty sure he was worried about losing his precious cargo, Raven.

He turned back towards me one last time, and then pulled the wings against his body as we plunged towards the water. This guy really must have had a death wish. The black energy making the wings crawled over Raven until she was firmly planted to the hooded figure's form. Me on the other hand, I had reason for worry. He dove into the water, I managed to close my eyes, and grasp onto the figure with all of my strength. We shot out of the water; I could feel my arms practically being ripped from their sockets as he began darting in random directions, left and right, up and down.

Plunging into the water again, I almost lost my grip with my already wet form. He shot upwards again. I grabbed the hood, and pulled it back. I almost fell off out of shock. The guy had gray skin, not pale, but gray. He had pointed ears, and when he looked back at me, his eyes sent chills down my spiked spine. He had no pupils, his eyes were solid white. He looked forward again as we neared the shoreline. I grabbed his white hair, yanking his head back as a growl emerged from the figures throat.

He was thrown off balance as we plummeted into the ground. I held onto his head with one arm, his shoulder with the other to prevent myself from falling off.

I could feel his body tense as we headed right towards the sandy beach.  
We crashed, slid in the sand for about twenty yards, and then we finally stopped. I felt the wings disintegrate as a black ball of energy shot off of his figure. It felt as if I had been throw against a brick wall as the energy drove me backwards, and into the sand.  
The figure slid Raven off of his back as he laid her unconscious form on the ground, and turned to face me.

"Who dares transgress against me?"

"Uh, I do. I guess."

"You shall pay mere mortal. You shall pay dearly for your misgivings."

He walked towards me, flames dancing off of what was left of his tattered cloak. Friction against the sand had lit him on fire. I would have laughed had he not been staring at me with those white opal eyes, contempt burning in those deep pools of hatred.

He completely ignored the flames as he slowly floated towards me, levitating about a foot off of the ground.

With no prior warning, he shot forwards at me. He lowered his shoulder, I cried out as he impacted my body, driving me against the earth. He raised both fists into the air as he gathered energy into his now joined fists as he brought them down towards me. I managed to roll over, and was very glad that I had. Sand went flying in every direction as I hopped to my feet as the sand cleared. A three-foot crater remained from where he had driven his fist into the ground.

He turned around towards me, eyes dancing with black sparks as he raised his hands into the air. I felt a rumble beneath me, as a wave of sand came plowing towards me. A wave of sand. I guess I hadn't seen it all.

The ten-foot sand tsunami came plowing towards me, and I knew I was done for. It was easily twenty feet across, and ten feet away, closing the gap quickly. Not even hyper-mode could get me out of the way quick enough.

I did the only thing I could. I dropped to the ground, rolling into a ball, facing away from the wave.

It hit, rolling over my body like it was no more than a stone on a road. I dare not scream, sand would find its way into my mouth. I could feel myself blacking out, god no, not now. I needed to save Raven from whatever that thing was. Darkness overcame me…

I woke up, in darkness. Somehow, that didn't surprise me. I was most likely buried under tons of sand. I could hardly move. I managed to bring my arm around to face me. My spikes had come out. I started driving it upwards, time and time again. About two minutes later, it broke through.

Ok, so maybe I had been buried under more like a foot of sand, not tons. I quickly managed to get myself unlodged from the sand. I immediately looked around for Raven and whatever that thing was.

My eyes bulged. In front of me, a ring of pillars made of sand surrounded a raised platform. On top of each pillar, a small black ball of energy sat, dully illuminating the platform. That thing was hovering over Raven, a dagger in hand. Raven lay on the ground motionless.

I didn't care about stealth, that thing was about to kill Raven. I raced towards it in hyper-mode, to see the knife come down towards her. I plowed into him, but a moment to late. Though diverted, the knife still went into Raven's form.

Good news, instead of impaling her heart, it was buried in her arm. That thing recoiled beneath me. I didn't give it time to react. I buried a spike in its shoulder. Blood flowed from the wound, onto my uniform. I pulled the spike out, now red, and drove it into him again.

This time, he raised an arm, and it went through that instead. He flung me backwards, against the sand as he hovered over me.

"Foolish, foolish mortal. Evil must be vanquished, the earth must run red with this demon's blood."

"What the hell are you talking about? Raven is a hero, a teen titan, not a demon."

"A demon by any other name, in any other form, is still a demon. The earth will drink from her blood tonight!"

Ok, this guy definitely fell into the crazed lunatic category. I kicked upwards against his chest, sending him flying backwards. He landed in the crater that he, Raven, and I had made upon crashing on the beach. I raced over until I was standing above him. I jumped down into the crater, and immediately jumped upon his form as he tried to struggle to his feet. I drove my clean spike through his shoulder, pulling it out covered in his red blood.

It was time to finish this. I didn't care what the hell this guy was. He wasn't human, and he had tried to kill Raven. That was more than enough grounds to kill him on. I raised my spike into the air, and drove it through his neck. A final howl bellowed from his throat as blood spurted from the wound, and onto me. The sand beneath his form turned red.

And then, just like that, it was over. His body went still, and strangely, it turned solid black, and then disintegrated into dust, blowing away into the wind. I rose from the ground, racing over to where Raven still lay. The sand platform and pillars had fallen to the ground, becoming part of the beach once again. Whatever enchantment that thing had had over this beach disappeared. I eyed her wound. The knife was gone as well, the guy really hadn't left anything behind. The wound was drenched in blood. Raven was still unconscious.

I sat there for a minute, considering what to do.

I was startled as the coast was lit up by a blue blast of energy. It hit me square in the chest as I was hurtled backwards against the beach. I held my arm against my ribs as I climbed to my feet, preparing myself for whatever had attacked me.

The teen titans came over the ridge, Cyborg had his smoking cannon aimed at me. Starfire had prepared a star bolt.  
"Get the hell away from her Chrone!"

"What the hell are you doing?"

"I said get away from her! Titans, Go!"

I looked at him amazed. Why were my teammates suddenly attacking me? Starfire and Beast boy knelt next to Raven. I subconsciously looked down at my bloody spike, and then at the wound in her arm. They thought that I had stabbed her.

I didn't have time to defend myself as Robin's steel plated boot landed a blow on my already sore chest. I was knocked backwards. "I didn't do it! Robin!"  
He didn't pay me any attention. Instead pulling his staff on me as he began pummeling me. I raised my spikes in defense, and hopped to my feet as I drove him backwards one step at a time, parrying his attacks with my spikes. A few of the blows got by, I couldn't take this abuse much more. I drove the blunt side of my bloody spike against his chest as he went sprawling backwards against the sand.

I was rewarded with another cannon blast from Cyborg. I turned to face him. Entering hyper-mode, I raced behind him, kicking him in the back as he landed in the sand. He rolled over, positioned his feet up at me, and kicked with all of his might.

I was driven into the air as I felt something catch my shoulder. I screamed out in pain as I looked to my arm, a birdorang was lodged an inch into my upper right arm.

I landed hard in the sand, and before I knew what was going on, Cyborg and Robin were both standing over me, contempt blazing in their eyes. Cyborg had his plasma cannon charged and aimed at me, Robin had his metal staff pointed towards my chest. It didn't look like I was going to get out of this one.

"What have you done Chrone? What the hell have you done? Look at me Chrone."

He stuck his staff beneath my chin, forcing me to look towards him with my orange reptilian eyes.

I looked at him, stunned, hurt, and confused at the same time. How did they actually think that I was capable of this sort of act? Sure, occasionally Raven and I butted heads, she despised me, but I would never intentionally hurt her. I had just saved her.

I looked deep into the titans' eyes, and all I saw was a burning rage and lust for vengeance. I knew that regardless of what I said, they would not believe me, and that hurt me the most of all. For that reason, I didn't even attempt to defend myself.

I looked at them one last time, and then, kicking against the ground, I rolled over, and scrambled over the nearest mound of sand. I could hear Robin and Cyborg coming after me, and so I did the only thing that I could. I took my communicator out of my pocket, looked at it one last time, and left it there in the sand before racing off in hyper-mode.

I had made my way up to a rocky ledge above the beach, and had managed the guts to peak my head over, and look down at the titans below. Robin had my communicator in his hand, Cyborg and the rest of the titans were gathered around Raven's still form, Cyborg crouched down next to her as he ran his scanner over her body.

Robin looked down at my communicator in his hands, eyes narrowed as he turned around, and threw it against the rocky cliff that I was perched on. It shattered. The rest of the titans looked over at him for a moment, faces frowning.

I felt a tear slide down my face. This was just like losing Arc. Only worse, they were alive, and I had been driven off. I looked at them one last time, and stood up. Some rocks slid downwards from where I stood on the top of the cliff, shadow dancing in the moonlight. My eyes opened wide with horror as the rocks bounced off the cliff, the sound echoing over the beach as the titans looked up towards my direction.

I stood there for a moment, Cyborg aimed another cannon stream in my direction as I backed up, looked at them one last time, and then entering hyper-mode, I raced off like a wounded animal in the night.

I made my way to the bridge, where I climbed up some of the support beams, and perched on the rail, looking at the titan tower beyond.  
I could make out faint green light, Starfire's green energy. The titans flew back across the water, and landed on the island as they hurried Raven's still form into the infirmary. I knew that she wasn't badly wounded, I had dealt a lot with stab wounds. It wasn't too bad, and besides, she could heal herself.  
I sat there on the ledge, hugging myself as I let the tears flow freely. Hot tears stung my cheeks as they fell off of my face and into the waters below. Once again, the ones that I had come to love had been taken away. This time it was even worse, for they had driven me away purposefully. I stared longingly at the tower beyond, and it was then that I knew it was time to leave, my time here had passed long ago, and it was time to wander on, alone as always. It had taken months for me to climb out of the shell I had sealed myself inside of, and just like that, I was back where I had started, rebuilding the wall of my prison as I steeled myself against the world.

I knew it was time to leave the city. I knew without a doubt that the titans would eventually come after me. There would be no second chances. I knew all about Terra, beast boy had told me about her. All in the course of one night, those wounds had been ripped open, bleeding once again.

I needed my pack though, it had everything I needed in it. Clothes, supplies, everything. I was going to have to go back to the Tower. It would be quite an adventure trying to get past the defenses, but that was a chance I was going to have to take. I couldn't leave without my stuff.

I entered hyper-mode, making my way down to the docks, I was going to have to borrow a boat. More like stealing, but hey, that line always had been a little fuzzy for me. Hopefully, I would get the boat back in one piece. I snuck past the security officer, and began scouring the docks for a boat that would fit my needs.

"How is she doing Cyborg?"

"Fine for now. She's healing herself. She should be ok by morning." Robin walked over to Raven's still form, levitating a foot above the medical bed as he placed a hand on her bed. He turned around, and drove a fist into the nearest wall, leaving a dent in the metal.

"I can't believe we ever trusted Chrone! He betrayed us. I should have listened to Raven. She's always right about this kinda stuff. And now look!" He motioned down to her figure. "She suffered because of our ignorance!"

"Robin, don't beat yourself up over this. Chrone betrayed all of us, the whole team."

"I should have seen this coming, after Terra…I honestly didn't think it could happen again. Well at least we learned something today. The titans started off with five members, and perhaps it was only ever meant to have five members."

"It's ok Robin. We'll find him. He will pay for what he has done."

Robin took one more look at the still figure of Raven before leaving the infirmary, and heading down to the gym to work out his frustration.

I pulled the speedboat up near the rocky coast to the Titan's island. I hopped into the water, pulling the boat towards the shore. I pulled it close enough to the shore, and then, driving a spike through the closest rock until it was buried halfway in, I tied the boat to the boulder, and hopped onto the island, slowly creeping towards the tower.

I made it to within twenty yards of the tower when I stopped. This is where the first and primary defense system for the tower lay. Placed in strategic locations around the tower's base were motion sensors, equip with heat seeking lasers. I went about finding them first, lodged into various places around the base of the tower, I found the first one, and drove a spike through the lens. I went on to do that to two more until I was confident that I could pass through undetected.

I entered hyper-mode, racing to the base of the tower as I slunk up against the wall, and into the entryway to the tower. I stood there for a minute, deciding how to go about doing this. I didn't have many options. I knew there was no way that I could go long without being detected. Getting in and out without being noticed was going to be impossible. I could try to take my time, and get through for as long as I could undetected, or I could barge in, go under immediate detection, and hope to avoid being caught.

Having the speed, I decided to go for the second method. I raised my still bloody spike into the air, and drove it through the control panel for the door. Sirens didn't go off until I manually pried the doors opened, and headed for the stairs. Alarms blared in my sensitive ears, and bright lights flashed.  
I darted into the stairwell, and began climbing. I made it about half way before I ran into the first titan. It was Beastboy. He looked stunned for a moment, and then, angry as his eyes narrowed and he turned into a wolf, snarling at me from the top of the next flight of stairs. I knew that I had to move quickly. I entered hyper-mode, and instead of facing him, I vaulted over his back and ran up the next flights of stairs.

I was actually fortunate for the duration of my remaining climb. I could hear Beastboy howl behind me, claws skidding against the metal stairs as he tried to keep up with me to no avail. I charged through the door, to meet the icy glares of Robin and Starfire.

sht. I was going to have to take them both on at the same time. I felt the ridges break through my back as I charged towards Robin, deflecting two birdorangs and three blows from his staff as I hit him with the blunt side of my spikes. They may have lost faith in me, but I wouldn't hurt him.  
Starfire fired three star bolts at me. I dodged the first and second, but the third caught me in the shoulder. I was sent sprawling backwards against the wall. Robin was on his feet by now, Beastboy had joined the group, and all of them were circling around me.

Robin came at me. He charged, jumping into the air as he came down upon me with his staff. It hit my spike, severing it in half. I looked down at it, and a blow from his fist caught me in the jaw.

He pinned me to the ground, bending down over me. "I won't let you hurt my friends you despicable coward. We trusted you, and you betrayed us!" He got off of me, forcing me to my feet as he drove a solid punch into my gut. I winced, but didn't cry out. I wouldn't. He let me collapse to the ground again.  
I rolled over, entered hyper-mode, and drove a foot into his chest, as he went sprawling backwards, impacting with Beastboy as he flew away from me.  
He let out a cry. I charged him, spike raised into the air, as I was about to hit him. I almost hit him with the sharp end; reflex had almost driven me to kill. I had to be careful, I didn't have my sheaths.

I stopped at the last moment, and instead hit him in the chest with the blunt side of my spikes, hard enough to knock him out for at least a few minutes. That was hopefully all that I would need.

Beastboy knocked me to the floor, still in wolf form. He pinned me to the ground, snarling as his teeth snapped next to me ear. I could hear his heavy breathing, saliva dripped from his mouth.

I pushed off against the ground as hard as I could, managing to get him off of me as I turned around to face him, and charged, delivering a striking blow to his head. His body fell to the floor as he slowly morphed back into his green elf-like form. He looked up at me once more, hurt in his eyes. "I hate you…" He drifted off as darkness overtook him.

Starfire was all that remained. I had no idea as to where Cyborg had gone. She charged up two star bolts. I didn't give her time to fire them off as I entered hyper-mode, racing towards her. Of all of the titans, I had the most trouble fighting Starfire, she was just so…innocent.

I charged towards her, keeping in mind that she was easily eight times as strong as me. I barreled towards her, vaulting into the air as I prepared a kick. She caught my leg, spun me around, and threw me back against the wall, I slid to the ground.

She flew over until she was hovering directly over me. "Why did you betray us Chrone? Did we not provide you adequate friendship?" She looked like she was about to cry. I didn't want to hurt her, I really didn't. But some times, you just don't have a choice in the matter.

I entered hyper-mode one last time, pushing off of the wall as I drove a fist into her face, catching her in the eye. She looked up at me as she slid towards the ground.

"Why Chrone?" Her eyes closed, full of hurt and pain. Betrayal. I caught her in my arms, and gently lay her out on the couch. I brushed my hand against her cheek, clearing her fiery hair out of her eyes. I paused for a second, pulling my hand away wet. A solitary tear had escaped her eyes.  
I blocked thoughts of remorse out of my mind as I jogged off towards my room. The panel opened, I slid into my room, and began stuffing all of my belongings into my pack. Within five minutes, I was ready to go. I left most of the stuff that I had bought since coming here, taking only what I had come with, only what I would need.

I closed the bag, slung it over my shoulder, buckled it across my chest, and prepared to leave the tower. I looked both ways in the hallway, and then took off at a sprint towards the stairs. It wasn't long before I heard bursts from behind me.

I looked behind, to find Cyborg chasing after me in the stairwell. I turned around, and began running upwards, towards the top of the Tower. I could just as easily leave from the roof. I could here his pounding strides from behind me. Every few seconds he fired a cannon shot off at me, but didn't manage to hit me; I was a good two flights ahead of him.

I broke through onto the roof, heading towards the side of the building. Cyborg was soon on the roof as well. There wasn't much room for error here; there wasn't even anywhere to take cover. He charged his cannons; I took a defensive stance. I didn't want to hurt him; I hadn't wanted to hurt anyone.  
I turned to face him.

"Just don't move man. I don't want to hurt you. We can talk this over."

I looked at him, and in his eyes, and saw sincerity. He honestly at least had some faith still in me. But then I thought back to the looks I had received from the titans. Anger, betrayal, there was no way that they would believe anything I had to say. I would end up in prison.

I looked back at him, not saying anything.  
"What happened out there?"

I had chosen long ago to not defend myself. My cries would fall upon deaf ears. There was no point. I looked at him, and made a dart for the edge of the building.

He looked at me, closed his eyes, and fired. The blow hit me in the side, sending me reeling backwards, and over the edge of the building.

"Chrone!"

My eyes opened wide with horror as I looked at the looming ground below. I plummeted downwards. Unprepared for the fall, I wasn't able to maneuver myself into the correct position to run down the side of the building.

I felt something catch my foot, and stop my descent, as I swung back and forth mid-air. I looked up to see Cyborg's grappling hook wrapped around my leg. I saw the strain in his eyes as he worked to pull me upwards. Somehow, I knew that if I reached the roof again, I wouldn't have my freedom anymore.  
I took my knife out of its sheath on my thigh, and in one quick swipe, severed the rope as I resumed my fall.

I scrambled to maneuver myself into the correct position to no avail. I closed my eyes, expecting the worse. I was suddenly pulled to a halt once again as I looked up to see Raven, eyes white as she hauled me upwards in a ball of energy. Somehow, this was all very familiar, almost a replica of what had happened back on the warehouse roof at the meta-human brawl. It was then that I knew there would be no escape on that night.

I was hauled upwards, I didn't try to struggle. I knew that there was no chance of me getting away, at least not at that moment. My head dropped to my chest in despair as I was turned around to face the wounded gaze of Cyborg, and the icy glare of Raven. Apparently, she had recovered from her adventure.  
Neither of them said a word as Cyborg clamped a cold pair of handcuffs around my wrists, not willing to meet my gaze as I was forcibly escorted down, into the depths of the tower to a level I had never seen before. I didn't struggle, there was no point.

I was stripped of my knife, and of my pack as I was thrown forward into the room, the door slammed shut behind me. I heard the hiss and click of at least four electronic locks sealing the door shut.

I was still in handcuffs, unable to move my arms much at all. Fortunately, I knew what to do in a situation like this. I managed to get to my knees, and then to my feet as I looked around at my surroundings. It looked like any generic cell, steel walls, and a mirrored panel on the far wall. A small sink, a toilet, and a bed. Nothing I could use to aid my escape. The first thing I needed to do was to get out of the cuffs.

Cyborg and Raven stood on the other side of the mirrored panel, watching Chrone.

"So, how are ya feeling?"

"Fine. Just fine."

"So what are we going to do with him?"

"I suggest that we just keep him in there until the rest of the titans come around. He knocked all of them out. I checked them out as soon as I woke up. They're ok, some bruises, a few cuts. They'll survive."

"What is he doing?"

I walked to the center of the room, closed my eyes for a moment, and began working my arms upwards until they were straining from the pressure. I gave one final jerk, screaming out in pain as I dislocated both of my shoulders, and brought my arms so that they were now in front of me.

Both Cyborg and Raven winced as Chrone wretched his arms out of his sockets and brought them around so that they faced forwards.

"Ow. That has got to hurt."

"You want to re-cuff him?"

"No, he'd just do it again. It's not like he can get them off anyways. I'm gonna go check on the rest of the guys. Always better to be safe. Chrone can really pack a punch. We've learned that from experience."

"I'm going to head up to my room I guess. I don't really remember any of what happened. All I remember is a cloaked intruder, and then darkness. I'm gonna see if I can't dredge up any other facts. If they're in my mind, I'll find them."

I rotated my arms until they were back in their sockets, and then went to work on the next task, getting them off. I walked over to the bed, hooking the handcuff chain around the bedpost. Entering hyper-mode, I jerked backwards with all of my strength. The chain didn't break.

On the third try, the chain finally gave way as I went sprawling backwards, now with two separately cuffed wrists, at least I could use them now.  
The next task was going to be getting out of the cell. That was going to be the hard part. I broke off the pair of spikes I had, they had been weakened, cracked, chipped. I needed a fresh pair for what I had in mind.

I knew how these one-way window things worked. Most of the time, there was a room on the other side for observation. The plan: break into it and make a mad dash.

I walked over to the wall, and began driving my spikes against the mirrored panel. It took three hits just to make a dent, and from there, cracks slowly spider webbed outwards until the first pieces fell away. Shards flew upwards as my face, drawing tiny flecks of blood. They lodged into my bare hands. I continued, ignoring the pain, as the hole was soon large enough to get a hand through. I began breaking off shards of glass with my hands, enlarging the hole bit by bit. Pretty soon, the hole was large enough to climb through. I quickly scrambled through it, and came out in another room. Cyborg and Raven had obviously been there; my pack and knife were lying on the ground up against the wall.

I grabbed both, resheathing my knife, and swinging the pack over my back once again as I exited the room, and took off down the hallway. Blaring sirens pierced the air as I headed down the hallway. I knew it wouldn't be long before someone came to investigate.

I raced off towards the stairwell, and went downwards. I heard Cyborg call down from above. I had no idea how many flights I had on him, and frankly, I didn't care. The further he was, the better for me. I raced down the stairs, skidding around the corners as I took two, even three stairs at a time.  
I entered hyper-mode, racing downwards as I hit ground level, racing towards the door. A light above the door flashed, and it began to close. I knew there was no way I was going to make it in time. I broke off one of my spikes, and threw it towards the door. It was caught between the two doors, and prevented them from closing all the way. I raced up to the doors, pulling to a halt as I squeezed both of my hands between the gap in the doors, and began prying them apart.

I looked back; Cyborg had reached the main level. I eyed him, eyed the door, and decided to take care of him. He fired a cannon burst at me as I turned around. I broke off my other spike, and threw it at his cannon. It flew true, and lodged into the firing mechanism on his weapon.  
He groaned as he tried to dislodge my spike. I charged towards him in hyper-mode, and barreled him against the wall. He raised an electronic hand to protest, and try to fight me off. I took a rematerialized spike, and drove it through his hand, and halfway into the wall beneath his hand. He was thoroughly stuck.

Confident that I at least had a few seconds. Hopefully, that was all that I would need. A sound erupted from his throat. It sounded more like a growl than anything else.

I looked back at him, the rage burning in his eyes. "You won't get away with this Chrone! No matter where you go, no matter where you run, we will find you. And you will pay. You can be certain of that. Even if it means killing you Chrone, you won't get away with what you have done!"  
I looked at him one last time, looked back at the door, and finally got the door pried open as I squeezed through the gap, as the doors slammed behind me. I raced off towards the shore, where I cut the rope tethering my stolen boat to the rocks, hopping into the boat as I drove off under the cover of darkness in the crisp fall night.

Tears blinded my vision as I returned the borrowed speedboat back to the docks where I had found it. I staggered onto the docks, and headed towards the city. I knew there was no going back. I had hurt each and every one of them, and for that, they could never forgive me. It had finally become too much to bear. I didn't wipe the tears away from my eyes. I deserved to suffer for what I had done. I had hurt the ones that I had come to love the most.  
I made my way into the city in hyper-mode, racing into the nearest alley as I slumped to the ground, letting my emotions over take me. I would leave in the morning. I didn't have the strength to do it right then. I held my knees against my chest, the tears falling freely from my eyes.  
I don't know how long I sat there, crying, hugging myself, despising everything I had become as I finally slipped into sweet, sweet oblivion.

My eyes fluttered open. Blinding light stabbed at my eyes, I immediately closed them again. Rubbing my tired eyes, I slowly opened them, to find myself slumped up against the same wall I had fallen asleep against the previous night.

I looked down at my watch. It was past noon. Wow, I really must have been beat. I stretched my sore limbs. I had escaped remarkably intact. I had bruises everywhere, cuts, scrapes, and burns. But I hadn't obtained any major injuries, at least not where they could be seen. The emotional blow had been ten fold the physical pain I was suffering. I slowly stood up, balancing against the wall as my muscles protested with every movement.

I slowly walked to the end of the alley, and back onto the street. I walked at a leisurely pace; I didn't want to stick out. Already, I knew I was a mess. My suit was in tatters, my face bruised, exposed skin, blood stained uniform. I really must have been a sight.

The first thing I needed to do was get ready to leave the city. I went about first going to the bank, now rebuilt, as I strode through the doors. I went up to the counter, and withdrew everything I had left in my account, roughly forty thousand. The bank teller looked at me a little funny when I told him I wanted it in cash, but he willingly complied. As he headed back to the vault, I silently pondered how ironic it was. It was here that I had begun my adventures with the teen titans, and here it would end.

The bank teller came back, with a large black bag filled with money. I snatched it out of his hands, and walked briskly out of the bank. I was very surprised that the titans hadn't frozen my account yet, or put an alert out for me.

My head turned to the North as my sensitive ears picked up shrieks and cries of distress. I tried to shake it off, but three months as a hero had really changed the way I looked at things. I convinced myself that I would just go to get a glimpse of what was going on, and then I would high tail it out of town.  
I entered hyper-mode, and raced off towards the North, following the screams. Nothing prepared me for the scene ahead of me. One minute I was walking through the city, and the next, it looked like I had entered a war zone. Rubble was strewn everywhere. At least three buildings were completely destroyed. My eyes were drawn to the center of the square. Beyond the police barriers, beyond the corpses and the blood, a brightly lit circle stood. I slipped past the barriers, and made my way towards the lighted circle, pausing about fifty yards away as something caught my attention to the right.

All five titans were in action, fighting what looked like a ghost. No joke. It was large and grotesque. It was transparent, light rippled over its figure, illuminating its form. It walked upright, and was about thirty feet tall. It had long taloned feet and hands, and grasped a sword in its hands, that it swung at whatever happened to get too close. It had three horns, two on its forehead, and one on its chin. Its clear eyes glared back and forth as it swung blindly at the titans. Their attacks had little effect on anything that was going on.

Three of the titans, Raven, Robin, and Cyborg walked in front of the white light. Tendrils danced outwards, and began wrapping themselves around the three helpless titans. I watched with horror filled eyes as they were dragged backwards, towards the white light. Beast boy and Starfire forgot about their new adversary, and flew down to assist their comrades.

I stood there, watching, my presence still unnoticed. Robin threw a birdorang at each of them, as they pulled to a halt.  
"Go back! Don't follow. Take care of the city! That thing..." The rest of his sentence was gone as they were pulled through the gate, disappearing in a flash of white light. Starfire and Beast boy, stood there, jaws open. Starfire looked near tears. I noticed that she had a black eye, a painful reminder of the previous night's encounters.

I turned to leave, and then paused. Who was I kidding? There was no way I was going to leave them. They may have driven me away, burnt me, hit me, hurt me in more ways than I would have thought possible, but deep down, they were still my family in my own mind. I loved each and every one of them like a sibling, and there was no way that I was going to leave them. I turned back towards the shimmering gate, as something came through. It was also made of light, like the invading figure that was at the moment attacking Starfire and Beastboy.

It was transparent, and like the other figure, light danced along his skin. It was male, and looked almost human. It had long hair, and stood about six feet tall. It pulled a sword off of its back, as well as a rope, and began walking forward. I entered hyper-mode, and raced towards the gate.

It must have sensed my presence some how, because he stuck out the hilt of his weapon, catching me in the chest as I fell to the ground. I quickly climbed to my feet, prepared to face this new adversary, spikes held out defensively as my ridges came out.

"You do not wish to enter that realm stranger. Your place is here."

"My friends were just sucked into wherever you just came from. I won't leave them."

"I cannot stop you, I was sent here to retrieve the Belrag." He motioned to the thing that was attacking the two remaining titans. "I cannot meddle in the affairs of other realms. But I can tell you this, what lay beyond that gate, is full of peril and pain. You will most likely die if you enter into the Baskire. Your friends are most likely already dead. I urge you to turn back."

I looked at him, and saw only pain in his transparent eyes, and the naked truth. I met his gaze, our eyes locking for a moment, before I took a step forward. He lowered his sword, and bowed. "You are truly an honorable being, but a foolish one, for you will die in the Baskire."

I looked at him once more, before I walked past him, entered hyper-mode, and raced towards the gate. The white light enveloped me, and instead of darkness, all I saw was white.


	4. Chapter 4

I slowly opened my eyes for a few seconds until my vision finally cleared. I was in a cavern of some sort. It was almost pitch black save a tunnel connected to the cavern on the far side. I rolled over, taking my pack off my back as I fumbled around in the bottom for a flashlight.

I switched it on, and began looking around at my surroundings. Behind me, where I had woken up, there was a solid stonewall, recessed into the wall. It was shaped like an arch in shape, twenty feet tall, and fifteen across. I ran my hand over it, it was unnaturally smooth. I was guessing that it was the gate I had passed through. I stepped on something. Bending over, I realized it was one of Robin's birdorangs. I was on the right track.

I swung my back on, and went to turn around, when I felt a prick on the back of my neck, and then another spear point in my lower back.

"Don't move stranger."

Two pairs of arms grasped each side of me, as I was turned around to face my attacker. He held a torch in one hand, with some sort of glowing substance on the tip that illuminated it in blue light.

He nodded to another man behind me, as my pack was removed from my back, and they began rummaging through it.

"Forgive us, but we don't get new materials or supplies very often. We take what we can."

"Please remove my possessions to me and let me on my way. Stay out of my pack."

"You are a queer one stranger. You are in no position to bargain."

"I'll ask one more time. Please get out of my pack."

"I think not. You have valuable supplies in that pack of yours. I have never seen such technology. Tell me stranger, how do things fare in our realm. I haven't laid eyes upon my beloved Rome in many a year."

"Rome…right."

I felt myself getting worked up, felt myself getting angry and tense. I screamed out in pain as the ridges broke through my skin, spikes materializing out of my arms as I thrust back my two captors.

I charged towards the ringleader, the one who had called me 'stranger.' I knocked him to the ground as I held a spike to his throat, pressing into his neck as a trickle of blood ran down his throat.

I was taken aback when I didn't see fear in the man's eyes, just a peaking curiosity.

"Perhaps I misjudged you stranger."

"Tell your men to lay down their weapons and return to me what is mine, or the spike goes through your throat."

"As you wish. Skane, Boen, do as our stranger requests."

They slowly climbed to their feet, eying me warily as they gathered up my scattered possessions, and returned them to their rightful positions in my pack. They quickly handed it over with shaking arms. I snatched it from them as I threw their leader to the ground, swung my pack over my shoulder, and made my way towards the illuminated tunnel ahead.

"Wait stranger, you have no idea what you are getting yourself into or where you are going. My men and I can be of help."

I halted, and turned my head back towards them. "And why would you help me? What's in it for you?"

"You, obviously possess unique abilities. They would be of great use to us, even if only for a short while."

I thought about it, and realizing that I really didn't know where I was going or what I was getting into, I slowly nodded, walking back towards the man, and his three men.

He held his hand out, I shook it, and the deal was sealed.

He slid his pack off of his back, reached in, and pulled out some sort of clay jar. Reaching inside, he pulled out a handful of some sort of goop, and smeared it on the end of his torch. The brightness increased until it was almost blinding.

He propped his torch up against his pack, and progressed to sitting on the ground. His men did so beside him. I warily took a seat in the circle around the torch, as their leader addressed me.

"So stranger, do you have a name?"

"Uh, its Chrone."

"I am Kraet, this is Skane, Boen, and Mason." He motioned towards his companions.

Skane was a tall, lean man, piercing green eyes with black hair. He had shaggy hair and a stern look on his face. All of the men, even their leader Kraet, had a cloak made out of some sort of animal hide, and a pack that they wore on their back.

Boen was shorter, though not by much. He was probably around five-nine, he still had an inch or two on me. He had brown eyes, and burnet hair. A scraggly beard and a distant look in his eyes. What looked like a claw mark ran its way from the middle of his forehead, across his nose, and ended on his right cheek.

Mason, was a little shorter than me. He had a longer black beard and black hair. Brown eyes stared at me warily, he didn't look too friendly. He had a knife in his gloved hands that he spun between his fingers.

And then, there was Kraet. He had a clean face, no beard, and graying hair. He was roughly my height, and had a lean physique. He eyed me curiously I finally addressed them.

"So, can you tell me anything about this world? Some ghost looking guy came through a white gate, into my city, and told me this was something called the Baskire? What do you guys no if it?"

"We know just about everything there is to know about this place. Baskire is a boundary world between the realms of humans and the Balrags-"

"Yeah, that ghosty guy said something about them. I guess one of those things broke through into the city, and he said he was sent to retrieve it or something."

"Ah, you must have met a Laer. They are the guardians of this boundary world. They make sure that nothing gets through to the next world. No humans get into Creag, and no Balrags break their way through to earth. On the rare occasion when they do break through, a Laer is sent to retrieve them by any means necessary, even extermination."

"Ok, if their job is to make sure that humans stay on earth, and Balrags on Creag, then why aren't they hunting you guys here in The Baskire?"

"That's the interesting thing. Once you're here, there's no going back. I've been here since the era of the Roman Empire, Skane came sometime around the Revolutionary War, Boen and Mason, they've been here since the 1950's. I haven't seen anyone else from our realm in a long time. Tell me, what's the year?"

"It's 2004. So hang on a minute. You're trying to tell me that you guys are hundreds of years old? Even though that's physically impossible?"

"Does anything else you have experienced since leaving earth tell you that things follow the same rules here? Once you come into the Baskire, you begin to change. You stop aging the moment you set foot in this realm. Sometimes other things begin to change, size, hair color, even eye color. A few even mutate into unspeakable things, dark and evil. You don't want to meet any of them."

"Wait, wait, wait! Your telling me that I will begin to change too? And that I'll never be able to get back to earth?"

"There have been many a try to get back to earth, all have failed, most go mad trying or die in the process. Very few can learn to live in the Baskire. It's a dark, dark place. As for you, the changes will take place gradually, it takes a few weeks to truly and completely change. But who knows? You're different, maybe the same rules don't apply to you."

"Is there any way to get back through the gate? My friends came here, I came looking for them. I plan to get back."

"The only way back is with a special stone that the Laers carry. Each guardian has one. It opens the gate. Only they can get you back through."

"Ok, so how do we get one of these keys?"

"Ah, now that is the problem. As long as we stay out of the Laers' way, they tolerate our presence. Heck, some times they'll even give us food or drive off a Belrag for us. But when it comes to the gates, things are set in stone. Meddle with the gates, or attack a Laer, and you will be killed. They have unspeakable power, none have ever defeated a Laer. Besides, after awhile, there's no point to trying to get back. For once you change, the Baskire becomes your home, forever. Eternally condemned to wander the never ending tunnels of the Baskire, we are but ghosts."

"So, you're immortal too?"

"No. Not in the remotest way. Though we no longer age, we can be killed by mortal means. Cut us, we bleed, we can die just as easily as the next man. We've just become skilled in the ways of the Baskire. It's a hard life, but we manage. The Baskire is our home."

I looked at them, raising an eyebrow. Most of this was hardly believable, but of course I didn't really have a choice in the matter. So far, everything I had seen would have been labeled impossible on earth, but of course, this was some sort of alternate dimension. I was going to have to play by their rules.

"Ok, that's nice I guess. So, how do we go about finding my friends?"

"That should prove interesting. I have no idea how long they have been here. The gates warp time. When you could have just arrived here an hour ago, they may have already been here for hours, even days. Despite the fact that they entered the gate just moments before you."

This was just getting to be more fun by the minute. I shook my head. Things really did look bad, for all of this. I had no means to track down my friends not to mention the fact that there was a good chance that I wouldn't get back to my home.

I looked at them glumly. All of us whipped our heads around as the gate behind us was activated, as the stone panel was enveloped in the familiar white light. Something came through. I hopped to my feet, falling into a defensive stance as what I knew to be a Belrag came through the gate. It looked different this time, no longer was it made of light, but now it was normal, flesh and bone.

The men also rose to their feet, drawing their spears. I looked at the Belrag as I noticed the glowing purple rope ensnaring its neck. The Laer came through the gate soon after it, sword prodding it forward as he held the rope in his other hand. He was still made of light; I looked at them in bewilderment. I recognized both figures, they were the ones who had invaded our city. The Laer pulled the Belrag to a halt, yanking back harshly on the rope as he walked towards the Belrag. As he neared, sword drawn, it lunged at him. He dodged the attack effortlessly, and then sent some sort of energy through the rope the light increased tenfold, and the creature dropped to the ground, writhing and bellowing in pain. The Laer approached the Belrag as it recoiled. He reached for the rope around its neck, and removed it, backing off quickly as the Belrag climbed to its feet. It looked around, eyes darting back and forth as it flared its nostrils. Now that I got to see it up close, it reminded me of a Minotaur, at least in the way its figure was arranged. While it was on the ground, I had gotten a glimpse of its taloned feet beneath its cloak, and its clawed hands. It lowered its head, preparing to charge.

The Laer blurred in a flurry of light, and a moment later was standing on the other side of the cavern. The enraged Belrag looked around, saw us, and charged. My newly gained companions had taken the opportunity to make a dash for the other side of the cavern while the Belrag had been on the ground. The Belrag grabbed its sword from the sheath on its back, and charged towards me like a mad bull, fury blazing in its eyes.

It came at me, and I was unable to get out of the way quick enough. I did the only thing I could, raising my spike in defense. They did little against the beast's attack. It plowed into me like a train with its shoulder, driving me backwards, and then loomed over my fallen figure.

I shuffled backwards as its sword fell; hitting stone where I had previously lay. I rose to my feet, entered hyper-mode, and raced towards the figure. I knew there was no way that I could match it in strength, in this dimension, it was considerably smaller, only about 15 feet tall, but still more than twice my size. I drove the blunt side of my spike into its chest; my arm came away still ringing from the impact. It was like hitting a steel wall. My attacks had no effect.

The Belrag came hovered over me menacingly, and reached down with a clawed hand, picking me up by the front of my uniform, holding me before his face. He muttered something in some unknown language, which sounded more like clicks and grunts than anything else. Contempt blazed in those blank eyes as he raised his sword with one hand, me in the other, preparing to deliver the fatal blow.

A scream erupted from the creature's throat as it dropped its sword, clutching its side and me. I looked down at the figure sprawled before me. Kraet's spear stuck out of its side, a good foot of the weapon buried in the Belrag's chest. I looked down at it with a sneer on its face.

It looked up at me, black tears falling from its wet eyes as it released its side and lunged up at me. I managed to dodge for the most part, but the creature's claws raked against my thigh as I fell backwards beside the creature. It lay on the ground in a puddle of its own black blood as Kraet and his men charged forwards with spears and swords, and finished the job, delivering blow upon blow on the fallen beast as it bellowed with pain.

Blood spewed from its throat, chest, and every available place. I was coated in the beast's fluids, as I lay there stunned, propped up on my elbows. The Belrag's empty eyes stared directly at me as every bit of life in it was stripped away, the dead eyes still fixed on my face. The breathing stopped, the echoed screams faded away, and the body stopped twitching as I lay there in its still warm blood, shivering at the display of ruthlessness that I had just seen. Not that I done the very same thing on more than one occasion.

But there is a distinct difference before killing someone, and having to watch the life flee from their body from up close. When you kill, your body and instinct take over, and you kill and kill until there is nothing left with a breath in them. Emotions are barred to the back of the mind as millions of years of evolution and survival take over; primal instinct overrules every rational thought in your head. Not until the knife drops from your hand do you realize what you have done, and the emotional floodgates collapse as your mind finally comes to the realization of what you have done.

The only way to survive as a killer is to build a wall in the back of your mind to contain those emotions, permanently banishing them. You lose your identity as living a life without emotion finally takes it toll on your empty void of a heart where only darkness and evil tumults around endlessly.

I looked at the creature with dead, glazed over eyes of my own, and slowly climbed to my feet, fingering my new wounds. Three parallel claw marks made good ten-inch gashes on the front of my upper thigh, blood dripping through the uniform. I wasn't too worried; they weren't that deep and wouldn't take long to scab over.

I didn't even bother to wipe away the Belrag's blood. Blood had been a common companion to me in my previous years, the disgust quickly wears away.

My new companions moved on to pulling out hunting knives as they progressed to stripping the beast of its clothing, discarding it as they began to strip the meat from its bones. I looked at them filled with disgust. Killing was one thing, eating another sentient being was on a completely different level.

Kraet came over towards me, seeing the shock in my face. "We gotta get food somehow. We have to eat."

"That thing had rational thought. That's practically cannibalism."

"Well, unless you want to starve, I suggest that you get used to it rather quickly, because here in the Baskire, you learn not to waste any resource."

He walked back over to assist his men in their proceedings. I felt like vomiting, and yet didn't. They all paused for a moment, looking over at me.

"If you plan to eat, I suggest that you get over here and help."

I remembered the painful gaze of the Belrag as it had died, the screams, the blood, and then looked back at my companions. Not a spark of pity was in their eyes, they meant business.

Swallowing the bile that had risen in the back of my throat, I walked over to the hacked up corpse, and climbed with Kraet up onto the creature's desecrated back. Pulling my knife from my thigh sheath, I began hacking away beside them, truly disgusted. I willed my emotional void to take over, and slowly it did. My thoughts faded away as my mind went numb and my body took over, hacking away at the dead creature.

I don't know how much timed passed, but eventually, Mason came over and shook my shoulder, motioning to me that we were done. With dead eyes I followed him away from the piles of bone, flesh, and clothing that had been left.

Kraet was digging through the creature's pack. He had already taken a liking to the Belrag's sword that now hung from a hilt at his hip. It must have had some sort of enchantment because it had shrunken to half the size that it had been when the Belrag had it. Faint blue tendrils of light danced over the blade surface, hypnotizing me as I watched.

I shook my head, tearing my eyes from the sword as I looked around the cavern. Kraet was rooting through the pack, looking for useful supplies. Skane and Boen were packing up the meat in some sort of leather bags, while Mason was kneeled next to the pile of bones and flesh and clothing, which he was slowly moving over towards the wall bit by bit.

Skane walked over towards me, and handed me three bags. I set two of them down next to me, and looked into the third pack to see what it was that they had given me. I peeked inside; it was the meat from the Belrag. My stomach did summersault as I felt like I was going to be sick. I was thoroughly disgusted. I pulled a piece of the meat out, it was dry. Recalling that they had been rolling the meat in some sort of grey powder, I realized that it must have dried the meat out.

I quickly slipped the meat back into the pack, tightened the tether, and looked up at the two waiting men who were watching me.

"Those are your rations for the next week. You're responsible for carrying all of it." They turned and walked away, leaving me with the three leather pouches. I eyed them, and for a moment considered just leaving them, but decided against it. At one point or another I would need something to eat. Not that I would delve into the food source any time soon, I would hold out for as long as I possibly could, the thought of eating what had once been a sentient being wasn't too appealing to me at the moment.

I took the three packs, managing to stuff two of them into my backpack, while I tethered the last to one of the hooks on the side of my bag.

"So guys, any idea where we are?" Cyborg addressed Robin and Raven.

"No idea." Robin said, looking around at the faintly glowing walls as they continued walked through the tunnels as they had been for the last several hours.

"We're not on earth anymore. I would be able to sense it. We're somewhere else, though I have no idea where." Raven said, looking at the back of Robin's head as Cyborg and she continued to follow Robin. Cyborg had his shoulder light on, adding more light to the dim caverns.

Robin walked over to one of the walls, pulling off a glove as he ran his hand over the rough stone.

"What is this stuff?"

Cyborg walked up next to him, and ran a scanner over the odd plant that was growing on the walls. "It's some sort of plant, not one found on earth, my databases would have been able to identify it."

"Ok, great. We have concluded that we're not on earth, and that the plant growing on the walls is illuminating the tunnel. Just great, none of that is going to help us. Let's recap. We got pulled through that gate made of light, which that thing invading our city came through. We all saw a blinding light, and then woke up on the floor in that cavern. We have now been wandering aimlessly through these tunnels for hours on end, and have yet to meet a single living thing other than the moss growing on the walls. So, anyone have any brilliant ideas?" Raven glared at Robin and Cyborg.

Robin rubbed the back of his neck, Cyborg looked away.

"Great. Just great."

"I guess we just keep going until we find someone or something that can help us figure out where we are. These tunnels can't go on forever." Robin looked at his two teammates.

Raven sighed, Cyborg shrugged, and they resumed their endless wandering.

Three hours later, something caught Robin's attention up ahead. A faint flicker of light had disappeared around the corner ahead.

"Come on guys! I think I saw something up ahead!" He pulled out a birdorang, and then looked back at his weary teammates as they glared back at him with half open eyes. They shrugged, Raven rolled her eyes, and they took off down the tunnel.

They whipped around the corner, to find themselves in a huge cavern. A figure stood crouched over next to one of the walls. They ran over towards him, stopping about ten feet off as Robin approached him slowly.

"Hello? Can you tell us where we are?"

The figure didn't make any motion, showing no sign of having even heard him. He walked up to the shrouded figure, which had a black hood drawn over his head. He tapped him on the shoulder.

The figure whipped around, raising his dagger into the air as he stopped it just inches from Robin's neck.

Robin didn't flinch, but looked at the figure in bewilderment. The shadows from his hood covered his face. He wore ragged pants and shirt, with a cloak trailing behind him on the ground as he rose to his feet, grabbing Robin by the front of the uniform.

Cyborg charged his cannon, Raven summoned energy as it balled around her fist.

The figure turned his head away from Robin, and looked over at the bewildered titans. Blue eyes shimmered from beneath his hood.

Robin very slowly turned his head towards the cloaked figure, and addressed him.

"Whoa, we didn't mean to startle you. We just wanted to know if you could tell us where we are, or how we can get back to our city from wherever this is."

The figure's eyes narrowed into slits as he slowly withdrew his dagger from Robin's neck, his hand disappearing under his cloak. He took a few steps backwards, his eyes never leaving Robin's form.

Raven's eyes turned back to their normal form, Cyborg lowered his cannon.

Robin took a cautious step towards the figure once again.

"You shouldn't be here strangers. This is not your land."

"Yeah, we kinda figured that much out. Can you tell us where we are, or for the matter how we get back to earth?"

"You have entered the Baskire. A border land between the worlds of the humans and the Belrags."

"Ok…how do we get back to earth?"

He thought about this for a moment, and then responded.

"The only way back to your dimension is to steal the keystone from the Laers that guard the gates, and then activate the gate. Only then can you get back to your world."

Robin raised an eyebrow out of skepticism.

Raven took the opportunity to question the figure herself.

"So, who are you?"

"I am Sedriel. I am, or at least was a human at one point in my past. I have lived in these caves for hundreds of years. The Baskire changes you, every fiber of your being."

He lowered his hood, revealing to them his face for the first time. He looked like a regular human, except for his eyes. Those illuminated blue eyes stared back at them, no pupils, just solid pools of blue.

"These eyes, the Baskire's curse upon me. Once you enter this domain, you change. Usually for the worse. I can no longer see as I once could. The world is permanently tinted blue through my eyes, and light blinds me."

"Will these changes affect us?"

"If you stay long enough, yes."

"How long do we have?"

"In earthen time, approximately a week. I must warn you, few have ever escaped, and once you begin to change, you too become part of the Baskire, and escape is impossible, for the Baskire becomes your home."

Cyborg, Robin, and even Raven stared at him with wide-open eyes.

"Can you help us find this gate, and get past these Laers?" Robin asked.

"I can take you as far as the barrier, once there, you must venture on alone. Only unchanged beings can pass through the barrier without having the flesh stripped from their bones. It's not an easy way to die. Very slow, extremely painful."

"Well then, lets get started. We obviously don't have much time."

Sedriel grabbed a wooden staff that was leaning up against the wall, and began leading them.

I jogged after Kraet, a little out of breath. I had to admit, these guys were in even better shape then I was in. We had been traveling for two days, and things had fallen into a loose pattern. We jogged, ran, and occasionally walked for at least sixteen hours a day. After that, we slept in shifts, one or two of us always on watch duty. So far, we had met one other Laer and two Belrags. I had yet to meet another human other than the companions that I had recently acquired.

We had finally stopped for the night. I leaned up against the cave walls as Mason, Skane, and Boen rolled out their sleeping mats, and went to bed. I had first watch.

Kraet sat over by the fire, twirling a dagger between his fingers.

I let my pack fall to the ground as I rooted through it for some meat. We had not had to kill the two Belrags that we had met, one we had driven away from camp during the night, and the other we knocked out.

I grabbed my water bottle and poured some of it over my head. Wiping a mixture of sweat and water out of my eyes, I pushed the hair out of face and then progressed to grabbing some of the meat from my food sacks.

I had tried to hold off on eating it, but after just one day, I was famished. As much running as we were doing, I needed all of the energy I could get. I tried not to think about what I was eating, it made me want to hurl.

I chewed on some of the smoked meat as I looked out into the darkness.

Something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. I whipped my head around to see a faint light flicker as it rounded the corner of the cavern and out into the main travel way.

I jogged out of the cavern, and after the light. I immediately pulled to a halt as I saw the figure in front of me. It was a Laer.

"So mortal, we meet again. I see that you refuse to give up your quest. A foolish hope drives you, but it is honorable all the same."

It was the same Laer that I had seen back on earth in Jump City, and then met again in the cavern as he was releasing the Belrag that had escaped into our dimension.

"What the hell do you want?"

"I have come to warn you mortal, your friends have allied with a great evil. The creature they have joined seeks to release Gyrnn, a powerful being neither Belrag nor Human in origin. We ourselves do not know what kind of creature he is, but he is powerful, and has enough power to destroy the Baskire. He came very near to accomplishing his goal. Why he wishes to destroy the Baskire, we know not. We managed to imprison him three hundred earthen years ago, in a pocket dimension that we created to hold him. Your friends have joined this beast's quest, and the Laer have decided that they must die. Gyrnn cannot escape, we lost over half of our ranks in his last rampage, there's a good chance that he could overcome our forces should he escape again."

"You don't know my friends. There's no way they would do something like that."

"We are not mistaken in that they travel with a beast that seeks to release Gyrnn. For one reason or another, they have allied with them, your friends, upon capture, have been ordered dead. Do not interfere with the order of things mere mortal, or you too shall meet the same fate."

The Laer disappeared in a flurry of light, leaving me there to contemplate what actions to take from there. Kraet came out from around the corner and stood next to me.

"I know of this figure of which the Laer speaks. His name is Sedriel, and he is by far one of the greatest evils that roam this realm. No more than a servant to Gyrnn, but he still possesses great power. He is not to be under estimated. Tomorrow we shall reach the barrier, beyond that gate is where you shall find your friends if indeed Sedriel has lead them there. It is within the walls of that cavern that Gyrnn is imprisoned. My companions and I cannot travel with you any further than the barrier. Only the unchanged can pass through it."

"So, why does Sedriel need my friends?"

"He needs them to break the stones that imprison Gyrnn within the pocket dimension. He himself cannot pass through the barrier. Undoubtedly he has told them that that is the only way in which they can get home. I must warn you though; you must prevent your friends from breaking those stones at all costs. If Gyrnn is released, this realm with fall, and the borders between Creag and Earth will be in disarray. Both dimensions will fall in rapid succession. Gyrnn won't be satisfied with destroying the Baskire alone."

I gave a shaky nod. He walked back into the side cavern, back towards the fire. I stood there, honestly wondering if I would have the strength to kill my kin if it came down to it. They may have driven me out, but they were still my family, or the closest thing to a family I had left in the world. I slumped up against the wall, hugging myself as I shivered. Tomorrow was the day. I was either going to be reunited with my friends, or I was going to have to see them die by my own hand. The chills increased, my blank eyes stared out into the darkness.

Robin, Raven, and Cyborg pulled to a halt behind Sedriel. A white wall was stretched in front of them.

"What is this?"

"This is the barrier. Only still pure life forms may pass beyond this point. That excludes me."

"So, what do we do from here?"

"When you pass through the barrier, you will arrive in a large cavern. Along the wall there will be a gate, similar to the one that you came through. Above and on either side of the gate, you will find three stones. All three of these must be broken for the gate to be activated. Once this has been done, you will be sucked through the gate and back into your dimension, though where and when I could not tell you."

"Ok, well, thanks for your help I guess. We wouldn't have made it this far had it not been for you." Robin said.

"It was my duty. I would not wish my same fate upon you. I must leave you now, I have other matters to attend to." He turned around, and began walking away, hood drawn over his head.

Raven muttered something under her breath so low that only she could hear. "This doesn't feel right."

Robin and Cyborg headed towards the whitewashed wall. Robin felt for the wall, and his hand went right through it. "I guess this is it guys. We're finally going home."

They stepped through and into the domain beyond.

Kraet, Mason, Skane, and Boen pulled to a halt in front of a white wall. I didn't have to even guess; I knew that this was the barrier.

Kraet led me aside. "This is where we must part. Remember Chrone, at all costs the stones cannot be broken. The Baskire cannot stand another assault from that demon. Do not sacrifice three worlds to save three friends. This is larger than you can even begin to imagine."

"Don't worry, I'll do what's necessary. The stones won't be broken, Gyrnn won't get loose."

"I must tell you Chrone, the chances are not good that you will return home. If you step through that barrier, the Laer will offer you no compassion. They take such breaches very seriously. If you are caught in there, you will be killed, along with your friends."

"That's a risk I am willing to take. My friends are worth the sacrifice."

"I have one final gift for you." He reached inside of his cloak, and withdrew something wrapped in rags. He slowly peeled them back, to reveal a glowing stone.

"This is a gate key. If you are indeed successful, you can use this to get home."

"I thought you said that getting one of those was impossible, and that no one had ever done it."

"I had to make sure you were trustworthy. As for the rest of what I said, it was true. No one has ever escaped the Baskire."

"Did you kill the Laer?"

"No, a Belrag killed it, I drove it off and managed to get my hand on the stone. By that time, it was far too late for me. The Baskire is my home."

He rewrapped the stone, and gave it to me. I thought about putting it in my pack, but settled for slipping it into my boot in case I needed access to it quickly.

"Thank you Kraet. You have helped me in more ways than you can imagine. I will get home, I will prevent Gyrnn from escaping, and I will save my friends."

I looked back at Kraet, Mason, Boen, and Skane once more as I walked towards the barrier. I stuck a hand through, the rest of my soon followed. In a flash of light, I left my four companions behind in search of my three friends.


	5. Chapter 5

I came through the other side of the barrier. I shielded my eyes from the blinding light ahead; blinking a few times as I finally was able to make out the scene in front of me.

Raven was focusing on breaking the stones. Already two of them were illuminated, glowing red and silver. Only the third remained.

Three Laer were occupying Cyborg and Robin. A fourth appeared. I entered hyper-mode, racing over to where Raven was levitating, focusing her black energy on breaking the third stone. I knocked her to the ground, breaking her focus as her eyes returned to blue. She looked up at me and yelled out.

"CHRONE!"

The battle seemed to pause for a moment. Cyborg, Robin, and all four Laer looked over towards me. Robin and Cyborg glared at me icily.

They were drawn back into the battle as the Laer took action once again. Raven looked over towards me. Suddenly, my body was consumed by her black energy. She forced me up against the wall of the cavern, suspending me like a crucifix.

She immediately went back to working on the stone. I could see the cracks forming. There wasn't much time. Another Laer materialized, joining the others in combating Robin and Cyborg.

I tested the strength of the bonds that held me. I could flex my muscles. Raven was obviously focusing the majority of her energy on opening the gate. I tensed my limbs against the energy; it was still holding me taunt. I managed to get one of my spikes against the wall. I managed to pick a few good-sized rocks off of the wall. They fell to the ground. Once again, Raven was distracted as the rocks fell down upon her form. Diverting her energy from me to block the falling projectiles, I fell to the ground, landing in a heap.

I jumped up, brushed myself off, and turned my attention towards Raven once again. Chips of the rock were falling away, cracks spider-webbing outwards.

The world seemed to stand still as a bright light enveloped the entire cavern. A great wind burst from the stones, smacking all of our forms against the walls. Only the Laer remained standing, and even then, they had crouched to the floor to lessen the effects of the blow.

The dust cleared. Every single pair of eyes was staring at the stones. The third one slowly came to life, glowing as the others were. The stones were broken, the gate had been opened.

The Laer immediately took action. Many more materialized. Three of the Laer's lighted ropes seized Robin and Cyborg by various limbs. Robin struggled against the ropes, only to have them pull tighter until he screamed out in defeat, falling to the floor.

Cyborg fired off his cannon at the rope. The energy was absorbed into the rope, racing down the tendrils of light until they reached Cyborg. Energy met flesh; he fell to the ground, smoke rising from several places on his body.

Raven on the other hand just teleported through the ropes as they ensnared her form. One of the Laer walked out in front of the others and threw some sort of disc at her. It grew larger as it flew until it was a good two feet in diameter. It hovered above Raven for a moment as she stared up at it. It fell down upon her and restricted until her arms were held taunt against her body. I could see her eyes flicker from blue to white as she tried to teleport to no avail. Two Laer grabbed each of the renegade titans. I was next.

The three remaining Laer stepped in my direction. I scrambled to my feet as they approached. I had seen them move, I new they could materialize at will. Two threw their lassos at me. I entered hyper-mode, racing in the opposite direction. I was jerked to a halt as I fell to the ground. I looked back; a lighted cord was entwined around my ankle. Two Laer approached, hauling me to my feet as they removed their rope and held me still, one on each arm.

I was forcibly walked until I was right next to the others. A new Laer had materialized, looked over the damage, the broken stones, and the now glowing gate. He walked towards us. It was the same Laer I seemed to run into just about everywhere.

"Foolish mortals. Do you have any idea what you have done? The seals have been broken; Gyrnn is now free to roam into the Baskire." The other titans stared at him in confusion. They had no idea what was going on. He walked up to me in particular.

"I warned you stranger to stay out of the affairs of others. And yet, here you are. But as foolish as you are, you did not play any part in opening the gate. For that, you will be spared the death that your companions will have to face. Your death shall be a quick one, I cannot say the same for your friends."  
"They didn't know. You can't punish them for what happened."

"They might not have known, but it was their power that broke the stones, and someone must suffer the retribution. Not only has this gate been activated, but ones in three other locations in the Baskire. All were dependent upon those stones. Gyrnn must be lured here. I will summon every Laer in the Baskire and perhaps by some miracle we can beat him back. Only one thing will draw him to this gate. The blood of a mortal. Your friends will serve their purpose."

"Why the hell do you need human blood?"

"Gyrnn is drawn to blood. It is his life force. Once the blood is dropped through the gate, his attention will shift here. He hasn't had the taste of blood on his tongue for many millennia."  
I looked over at the titans. Robin shifted back and forth nervously; Cyborg's eyes stared at the ground. Even Raven seemed affected by the revelation that they were to be used as human bait to attract a creature with unseen power.

I knew what I had to do. I came here to save my friends, and I would do just that. I thrust my arms against my two captors, entering hyper-mode as I raced across the chamber and over to the gate.

I pulled my knife from its sheath as I raised it into the air. The gate seemed to almost pull me in. I had to shift backwards to keep from being drawn in. I placed the blade against the palm of my hand, closing my fist around it. I closed my eyes as I drew the blade against flesh; fresh blood seeped from the large wound. I let the blade fall to the ground as I raised my palm into the air. Blood poured down my arm. The first drops rolled off at my elbow. Instead of falling to the ground, they were pulled to the gate. The first drops met the white gate, and disappeared.

The Laer floated towards me on his blanket of light until he was just a few inches away from my face.

"You are a foolish one mortal. For now you will suffer in the place of your friends. It was your blood that entered the gate, and it is now your blood that calls to Gyrnn."

He shook his head at me. I looked back and noticed that two Laer stood behind me.  
"Prepare him for the ceremony."

They grabbed me. I tried to struggle. I managed to break free, entering hyper-mode. I made it about fifteen feet before I felt something wrap around my neck, pulling me to a grinding halt as I fell to the ground, struggling to breathe.

The Laer came up, taking his rope off of my neck as his two companions grabbed me, this time by both arms. I didn't have a chance to put up a fight.

The three other titans were dragged off towards the other end of the chamber while I was led to the center. Not one of them uttered a word, but all of them had their eyes locked on me as they were led away.

I on the other hand was led to the center of the chamber where an elevated stone platform stood with a column on either end of the raised ground. I was dragged up the stairs to the top of it. The two Laer grabbed their ropes; one was wrapped around each wrist.

They stretched the ropes towards each of the pillars. One was tied to each pillar. The ropes were pulled tight until my shoulders were groaning in protest, as I stood there, suspended like a crucifix for the second time.

The lead Laer came up to me once again. This time he had a golden dagger in one of his hands. He floated towards me. He stopped in front of me. Taking the dagger he cut off the upper portion of my suit, leaving my bare chest bare. I shivered from the new chill that assaulted my body.

"It was your blood that attracted Gyrnn to this gate, but the flow must remain constant or he will veer off towards another gate. We need him to come here, where my forces will lay in wait. You have chosen a terrible fate mortal."

He raised the dagger into the air. I didn't even flinch as the blade cut into my flesh across the chest. He didn't go very deep, about a quarter inch, deep enough to go into muscle and draw blood to the surface.

He withdrew the blade and moved it towards my shoulder.

The blade fell again.

I watched him intently.

The blood began to flow. Hot and sticky, down my chest in beads. After the fifth cut I lost count. They all blurred into one. He carved symbols and patterns all over the right side of my body.

The blade fell.

I couldn't hide the pain. I screamed. The guttural cry of a wounded animal. The blade came down again. My eyes never left the red tinted knife as it carved up my living flesh. The screaming lasted for an eternity. Rivers of blood cascaded from newly created wounds. I struggled at first as the torture persisted, the lighted ropes holding me still as they burned my flesh. Red fluid dripped to the floor, pulled towards the gate.

The blade fell.

My legs gave out and the blade came down again. My shoulders screamed from the weight they now bore. My hands closed into fists as blood dripped, flowed, covering my entire chest and neck. I stared into his lifeless eyes. I saw no emotion; he refused to look at me as he continued.

The blade fell.

The tears came next. My god the pain. They ran red by the time they hit my neck. My head dropped to my chest as my strength slowly waned. My cries of pain had been reduced to a stifled sob.

The blade fell.

I looked to the puddle of red beneath my feet. My blood, my life force was being drained to draw another.

The blade fell.

I managed to raise my head and look over to where my three companions stood in a cage made of light. At first, they had tried to break out, but their efforts were futile. They had been reduced to watching me. Raven stared at me. Cyborg stared at me. Robin stared at me.

The blade fell.

My skin flinched under the now warm blade. A cut across the abdomen.

The blade fell.

The arms and neck were next. More symbols. By some miracle I was still conscious as a low growl erupted from beyond the gate.

The Laer backed up, eying his creation, carved into my flesh. I looked at him. He withdrew a cloth from his cloak. Wiping the blood from the blade, he backed off, leaving me there on the platform, tethered between two poles.

I looked towards the gate. The stones began glowing brighter. A mixture of grey and red. Something flickered from beyond the gate. I looked. The tattered ends of a cloak appeared through the gate. A hand followed, a hooded head. I couldn't make out the figure; it was surrounded by a black midst.

It came through the gate. It easily stood ten feet tall. It approached the platform, drawn by my blood that was pooled at my feet. My shivers increased. The air had become unbearably cold as Gyrnn drew closer. My teeth chattered. The figure closed in, twenty feet, ten feet, and then it stood a mere five feet in front of me.

I tried to battle against the bonds to no avail. They merely tightened, burning my flesh even more. Gyrnn ignored the fifty plus Laer that stood in wait for the orders attacked. There was fresh blood to be taken.

It reached a hand out of the midst. I watched it come closer as it reached towards me. My eyes never left it. Blood froze against my flesh. My body shivered uncontrollably. The hand reached my face. Three claws protruded from the tattered remains of a sleeve. They met my flesh below my left eye. I screamed. It burned, worse than the blade. My body twitched. Skin broke, blood flowed down the creature's claws, and somehow up its arm and into the midst. It was draining my life force.

The claws dug deeper into my flesh. I could feel my eyes rolling back in my head. This is how it was going to end. Not a hero's death as I had envisioned it, but a death by the blood being slowly drained from my body.

Tears flowed from my eyes, freezing on my cheeks. The creature roared, the sound chilling me down to the bone.

My breaths came in raspy chokes. I knew in the back of my mind that I was dying. A bright flash of light, something entered the midst.

The hand withdrew from my face. My body fell slack against the bonds that held me. The figure turned towards the Laer who had disrupted its meal. It bellowed a rage filled scream as more balls of energy cascaded down upon the midst.

The creature blurred towards the nearest Laer. Three claws impaled it. No cry could be heard. The Laer died without a sound, eyes open the whole way down as Gyrnn let it fall to the ground.  
The Laer were upon the form. Energy striking the midst, swords swinging as they tried to subdue the beast. Gyrnn threw his arms outwards. Laer were sent flying in every direction, landing in heaps on the ground.

Few of them got up. Many did not rise. The lead Laer approached the figure. Several Laer circled around the beast. I was in their circle. In unison they raised their hands into the air and began chanting a string of words I didn't recognize. Their bodies glowed brighter as the beast cried out. Gyrnn turned towards the lead Laer, and charged towards him with a battle cry.

A shield of light sent Gyrnn flying back into the center of the circle; he landed on the platform right in front of me. I looked down at the beast as it rose to its feet. The midst increased in density until I couldn't even make out the figure's most vague feature.

It came towards me once again. I could feel the cold air dancing around my body sending chills through my every nerve. I struggled against the ropes that held me taunt. To my surprise, I dropped to the ground; one of the ropes had been severed. I could feel the blood against my body beginning to freeze again. Gyrnn was getting closer.

I tried to rise to my feet. I stumbled. Blood loss was catching up to me. I shakily steadied myself against the closest pillar. I took the time to note that a birdorang was sticking out of the column. Robin had freed me.

I stumbled away from the pillar and toward the midst, towards Gyrnn and most likely my demise. But I had made a promise to Kraet; I had promised him that I would not allow Gyrnn to destroy the Baskire. A promise that I would fulfill by any means necessary. Including laying down my life.

Just as I was about to limp towards Gyrnn, the air around us filled with a blinding light. I shielded my eyes. Gyrnn bellowed a cry as the midst began to dissipate, revealing his figure for the first time.

A hooded cloak hid much of his figure, but I could make out a set of red eyes staring back at me from beneath his hood. Red droplets dripped from his chin and down the front of his tattered robe. My blood.

The light grew brighter. Some invisible force clung to my form. Gravity seemed to intensify as I was dragged to the ground unable to even twitch a muscle, as I lay there useless. The Laers' forces were having a similar effect upon Gyrnn as his knees slowly bucked and he was pulled to the ground next to me. Somehow he managed to move a hand towards my face. The claws. I screamed again as he reached out to my face, drawing three parallel marks across my cheek beneath his previous puncture wounds.

A soft clicking noise gurgled from his throat as I began breathing hard. My body was wracked with spasms as the blood began to flow again. The tears, the pain blinded me as my vision was enveloped in red.

A lighted lariat flew through the air and landed around the creature's neck. It seemed to have little affect; Gyrnn was preoccupied with consuming what could be his final meal for many millennia more to come.

tried to scoot away to no avail; Gyrnn was not willing to let his prey escape. More ropes ensnared his form. The ropes were pulled taunt and he was slowly dragged backwards, away from me. His claw slid away from my face and I was left lying on the ground, shaking uncontrollably.

The force keeping me pinned to the ground suddenly lifted and I felt a lot lighter. Not that I could move, the blood loss was catching up with me. The world was fading out. I could hear the cries of Gyrnn from somewhere in the cavern. All I could see was shadows. The world went black…


End file.
